Never Let Me Go
by ButterflyGirl89
Summary: Flack finds himself falling for the beautiful new detective, but he soon discovers there's more to her than he first thought. She's running from a dark past and when it catches up with her he and the team have to fight to save her and her young son before its too late. Pretty dark stuff - you've been warned! Rated M for a reason. Flack/OC Mac/Jo
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks to everyone who has decided to check this story out. Hope you like it. **

**Summary: Flack is getting used to the fact that he will never find a woman like Angell. Years have passed and although he has come to terms with her death, he wonders why he has never even let himself come close to finding someone new. Then new Detective, Lara Deluca, comes to work at the precinct and after a slightly rocky first day he finds himself falling for her. As he starts to learn more and more about her he discovers she and her young son are in danger from someone from her past. Unable to outrun it any longer her past catches up with her and Flack has to fight to keep her and her son safe. He's determined to not lose someone else who he loves, but should he prepare himself for the worst? Could he recover from that sort of pain again?**

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY, but if you haven't then they are mine.**

**Chapter 1**

Don Flack was less than impressed with the heat of the day. It made chasing down perps even harder. He wasn't sure if they were getting faster or if he was slowing down or if he was just losing interest in this job. Even though years had passed since her death he was finding himself thinking more and more of Jessica Angell recently. He missed her and had yet to meet someone like her.

He pulled his car up outside the precinct and climbed out. He tried to push his thoughts aside as he reached into the back of his car and pulled out a suspect he had just arrested. He gave them a 'helpful' shove towards the precinct. What he didn't expect was for them to turn around and crack their elbow into his face, _once, twice and then again._

Flack was too slow to stop or dodge the next blow that came: a hard kick to the leg. He went down on one knee and the suspect kicked out again, his boot connecting with Flack's face. The attack had come to quick and Flack was in no position to stop it right now. He looked up and saw the suspect's boot coming at his face again.

He waited for the painful connection but what he heard was the suspect yelp in pain. He pushed himself up off the floor and was about to walk over to the person who had the suspect pinned to the floor, his arm twisted up behind his back, when he saw who it was. He froze for a second, a little shocked…and kinda embarrassed.

"Thank you Miss but I'll take it from here!" he said to the petite brunette who continued to crouch above his suspect. He wanted to drag the guy up from the floor himself but she beat it to him. She practically threw the guy into Flacks arms.

"He's all yours if you think you can handle him. I was late for work anyway." she said.

"And what, you figured you'd just be a good citizen first?" Flack asked the brown eyed beauty standing in front of him.

She half smiled at him and cocked her head to the side slightly. "Good citizens don't get paid for tackling scum like him. Cop's do." she said.

"You're a cop?" he asked.

"Detective." she corrected.

She twisted round and looked up at the precinct. She then turned to face Flack. "My first day. You work here?" she asked. Flack just nodded. "Great, you mind showing me who Detective Donald Flack is?" she asked.

"You're looking at him." he told her.

She smiled at him, wondering if showing him up was really the best thing to do. Having done it anyway she figured she should just introduce herself. "I'm Lara, Lara Deluca. I'm your new Detective."

~0~0~0~0~

Flack had only had time to show Lara around the bullpen and introduce her to a few people before he got a call. He'd decided to take Lara with him. She had to learn the ropes, he just hated that he had to be the one to show her them. Once at the scene, he had found he was actually surprised how good she was at her job, but he wasn't about to praise her for it.

At the scene he'd introduced her to Mac and Jo. He wasn't surprised to find Jo had instantly liked her. She had a southern accent just like Jo's, but nowhere near as strong. Mac just seemed curious by her, like he did with all new people he came across.

After finishing at the scene, Flack had asked Lara to drive back to the precinct. They had hardly got anywhere when a tire blew out. Even though she had offered to change it, it was Flack who had got down and done it; just as the God-damn rain had begun to pound down. _This whole day had been one nightmare after another._

When they had finally got back to the precinct everyone, rather the men, were all too busy trying to chat Lara up. It meant no work was getting done and he had immediately blown off steam at Lara for distracting everyone. He felt bad for it as soon as he had done it. It wasn't her fault the guys at the precinct were all as horny as teenage boys when a pretty face was around.

~0~0~0~0~

It was gone 7pm when he decided to go to the staff gym. He needed to blow off more steam. He really had woken up on the wrong side of the bed today and he needed to lose the mood before he went home and crawled back into bed.

He got to the gym, ready for a workout, only to find all the guys gathered around the mat. They were cheering wildly, sounding like they were watching some sort of wrestling match. He pushed his way through the crowd just in time to see Lara throw one of his guys to the floor. He waited for him to push her off him but she wouldn't allow it. After a few seconds she pushed herself up. Everyone on the inside of the crowd gave her a 'well done' slap on the back or high five, except for himself of course.

Lara saw the look he gave her and turned around and put her hand out to help the officer up. He took it even though he was clearly suffering from a bruised ego. She turned back around to see Flack still giving her the same disapproving look.

"What? I figured they might not wanna hit on me if I kicked their asses." she explained to him, obviously not bothered whether he approved or not.

"Whatever!" Flack said as he turned and went to walk away, not seeing how pissed off Lara now looked at him.

"You' know, if you have some sorta problem with me…we could always settle it right now, right here." she called to him.

Flack stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her. He tried not to smile and shook his head. He turned back around, despite his guys shouting encouraging things to him. They wanted to see a fight between the two of them.

"Come on, I'll even go easy on you!" Lara shouted to him.

Flack stopped dead once more and turned to face her. She stood smirking at him, her arms out to the side of her as if to say _'well, what you waiting for?'_

"Give me those!" Flack said as he snatched some gloves from one of the officers. Everyone cheered as he put them on.

Lara stood in the middle of the ring of officers, waiting for Flack. Finally he was ready. He walked over to her and they hit their gloves together and prepared themselves. "Don't hold back!" Flack told her with a smile.

"After the hell you've given me today, I wasn't planning on it!" she told him.

Flack just smiled and then threw the first punch but Lara side stepped, dodging it. She kicked out, hitting him in the side, getting a cheer from most of the men, the others shouted encouraging things to Flack.

Flack threw two quick punches but again Lara dodged them and then she threw a punch that hit him square in the jaw. For a little thing she sure could hit. Not letting the others see that the punch had shocked him he threw another punch. It hit her in the face but hardly budged her. She threw her arms up and grabbed him in a headlock before swinging him to the floor. He hit the mats and tried to jump right back up but she was suddenly crouching over him, a tight grip on his arm that she had twisted up his back, _clearly her favourite hold on a person._

"You gonna say sorry?" she asked him quietly.

"Like hell!" Flack muttered before he pushed himself up and twisted his body around.

Lara crashed to the mat and he threw himself down above her, pinning her arms down above. Her legs trapped by his. His hold wouldn't hurt her but it would certainly keep her down. She looked up at him, with a smirk on her face. He noticed her chest was rising and falling as fast as his. They were both putting as much into this as each other, and were both out of breath.

Without meaning to his eyes dropped to her chest. Her top had slipped down, just slightly, just revealing the tiniest bit of the top swell of her breast. He was sure he saw something there, a scar perhaps…having let himself become distracted Lara flipped them again so she was now above him, pinning him down. Her knee came to a quick stop between his legs, close enough to do damage if she moved it just another inch. "You say sorry and we can end this now."

"And if I don't?" Flack asked, fighting for breath.

"Then I suppose we just keep fighting." she said, fighting for breath herself.

"That is kinda tempting, but I happen to be quite attached to the part of my body that your knee is about to crush, so…I'm sorry." he said.

She was clearly shocked that he had actually apologised to her for being a jerk and sounded like he meant it. Her shocked expression turned to a somewhat seductive smile. "Shame, I wasn't done trying to work out if I prefer you above me…or below me." she said as she pushed herself up leaving Flack lying there with a huge grin on his face.

He sat up, ignoring all his guys playful booing. He was too busy watching Lara as she walked out of the room. He found he couldn't stop smiling. He wished he'd realised earlier just how good this day had been…thanks to Lara coming into it.

There was someone else watching Lara, someone in the crowd, another officer. He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of Lara. He then shoved it back in his pocket and walked out of the gym. "Finally, he'd found her."

**TBC**

**Sorry this may have seemed like a pointless chapter but the next contains more action and the other characters.**

**Hope you like. Please review and let me know if you want more.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone reading and to those who reviewed. **

**A/N: All the other characters will be involved in this story, mostly Jo and Mac but the others too. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY.**

**Chapter 2**

Flack made it to the top floor of the apartment building he had come to. It was _okay_ for a building in this area, but it certainly wasn't the type of place where you wouldn't chain your door at night. He crossed the hall and found apartment 5A. He hesitated before he knocked on the green door. He only knocked one time because when he listened he was sure he could hear shooting inside. "What the hell?" he said to himself before he knocked hard, three times, on the door.

He waited for a second and got no reply. He was about to pull out his gun and knock the door down when it opened. He smiled as soon as he saw Lara looking up at him, clearly confused. She leant against the doorframe and playfully asked, "Can I help you, Detective?"

He found his smile growing across his face. He wanted to answer her but he found himself lost for words as he studied her. She had the biggest, most beautiful, chocolate brown eyes that he had ever seen, and they seemed to sparkle at him. Her skin was a yummy caramel colour and her wavy chocolate brown hair hung loose around her face. It looked so soft that he wanted to reach out and touch it.

She wasn't very tall, 5'4 at the most. She was slim but muscular, clearly having put hours in to working out. As she stood before him now she wore a white tank top over a black bra and she had on a pair of shorts that made her legs look much longer than they were. She hadn't had much makeup on all day but now she had none on and she still looked absolutely stunning.

"Earth to Flack!" he suddenly heard her say as she waved her hand in front of his face.

He had to force himself to look up at her face again. "Sorry!" he quickly said, slightly embarrassed.

Lara found herself wanting to laugh but she held it in.

"I came here to say sorry…to you…again." Flack said. "Look, I was a total jerk today and you didn't deserve that. I was just having a bad day and I took it out on you. I'm truly sorry, Lara."

Lara stood up straight and looked at him curiously. "You drove all the way here to tell me that?" she asked.

Flack just smiled sheepishly and nodded. Lara had to smile back at him. "Thanks. I really appreciate that." she said before the sound of gun shots exploded from the apartment.

"What the hell was that?" Flack asked, leaning in through the door frame.

"Red dead redemption." she said, receiving just a confused look from him. "Hey, Jace, turn that down for a minute!" she yelled.

Flack felt the twang of disappointment. _Jace,_ she had a guy here, of course she did. She was stunning, why on earth would she be single. _'Sorry, Mom!' _a voice called back to her from the living room snapping Flack out of his thoughts. He looked at Lara again in confusion, but at first she wasn't looking at him to see it. When she did turn to face him she had to smile at the confused look on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"_Mom?"_ Flack asked. "You're a mom? _You_ have a kid?" he asked in disbelief.

Lara could only smile because it was the reaction she always got. _She knew she looked young to be a mother but it didn't change the fact. _"Come in, I want you to meet someone." she said as she walked away from the door.

Flack walked in shutting the door behind him. He followed her through the small hallway and into a small living room.

"Jace, this is Detective Flack from work." Lara said as she sat down on the couch.

Flack watched as the young boy, no more than ten, turned to face him. Lara being his Mom was as clear as day. Jace had his mother's brown eyes, her chocolate brown hair and her caramel coloured skin, and when he smiled he saw that was his mother's too.

"Hi!" the young boy called to him. "You know how to play x-box?"

"You kidding me, I love x-box." Flack replied.

"You wanna play?" Jace asked him.

Flack looked to Lara for approval. She looked over the back of the cream coloured couch at him and shrugged as if to say, _'go for it'_. _So he did. _Lara then watched as Flack walked over to the armchair and sat down adjacent to her son. He peeled of his coat and threw it over the arm of the chair.

"What was your name again?" Jace asked him.

"Detective Flack, but you can call me Don." he said as he grabbed the other controller.

Lara sat watching them play, _she couldn't help but smile._

~0~0~0~0~

Flack had ended up staying long enough to have pizza with Lara and Jace, something he insisted on paying for. They had all spent the rest of the evening playing x-box and having a great time until Lara finally said, "Jace, buddy, you have school tomorrow, brush your teeth and get in bed please."

"But Mom!" Jace whined.

"Ah! No but's about it, kiddo: teeth and bed."

Jace wasn't happy about it, but he walked over to Lara and gave her a hug anyway. Flack watched them, he couldn't help it. He watched as Lara pushed her son's hair back off his face and said, _'Love you.'_ Jace then replied, _'Love you too, Mom.'_

Lara kissed her son lovingly on the cheeks and let him go. Both Flack and Lara laughed when Jace used his shoulders to wipe the kisses off. Flack was a little shocked when Jace walked over to him and gave him a quick hug too. "Good night Don, thanks for playing x-box with me." he said.

"No problem. G'night buddy." he said as he watched Jace walk out of the room. He turned to face Lara who quickly pushed herself up off the couch.

"Sorry about that. He doesn't usually hug anyone but me. He _never_ takes to anyone the way he has to you tonight." she said as she gathered up the pizza boxes and some soda cans and dashed towards the kitchen. Flack grabbed the rest of the rubbish and things off the coffee table and quickly followed her into the kitchen.

Lara was dumping things into the trash when Flack came up behind her. She turned around so fast that she almost bumped right into him. For a second she found herself just gazing up at him and Flack found himself gazing right back at her. From how close they stood he could smell her coconut shampoo, it smelt incredible. _She looked incredible._ He inched his face closer to hers and for a second she did the same, stretching up on her tip-toes, but then she suddenly backed off and stepped around him.

"You want a beer?" she asked him as she opened the fridge.

Flack stood there, feeling embarrassed, _again_. He threw the rubbish in his hands into the trash and turned around. "I'm good, thanks. I'm driving."

Lara turned to face him, smiled, and nodded. "You can stay if you want….for a beer?"

"I'm fine, really. I have another errand to run before I go home."

"What you piss of another new kid as well as me today?" she joked.

"Something like that." he laughed.

They stood looking at one another again, a much bigger gap between this time. Still the same feeling threatened to bring them closer together. An awkward silence fell over them and lasted for what seemed like hours until Flack said, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

Lara nodded and said, "Yeah, see you tomorrow."

Flack made his way over to the front door and Lara followed, holding her beer bottle in one hand, nervously picking at the label with the other. She walked him right over to the front door where they stood in total silence again, just looking at one another. Finally, Flack forced himself to move away. He took a step into the hallway and said goodbye again before leaving Lara watching him walk towards the stairs.

She stepped back inside and shut the door behind her. She leant against it and smiled. She turned and checked through the peephole. _He was gone._ She shook her head and walked away from the door.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Lara expected things to be a little awkward between her and Flack after what had, or hadn't happened last night. Thankfully she had been wrong and he acted like nothing had happened. They both continued that way.

The other good news was that the guys in the bullpen had stopped harassing her and were treating her as an equal now as opposed to a piece of eye-candy hanging around the place for them to drool over.

The day had seemed fairly quiet until a call had come in. Flack and Lara had headed straight to the scene and on the way there Flack had filled Lara in on the most recent murders happening around the city and that they already knew it was the same guy.All his scenes were left a bloody mess as he butchered his victim, in doing so having rightfully been dubbed 'The Butcher' by newspapers and the name had stuck among the CSI's and the rest of the department.

Upon arriving at the scene they had spilt up. The place was an old abandoned scrap yard that was now being sold off, piece-by-piece, meaning that it was mostly empty except for a few piles of old cars and sheets of metal here and there. No one else was on the scene yet. It had just been called in by a witness who had seen something resembling body parts scattered around the place.

Flack was quickly glancing in cars and under things that were big enough where someone could hide. Supposedly there were body parts laying out in full view but he had yet to find any. Then finally, as if on cue, he came across one. An arm, clearly a women's, their killer's favourite and only choice.

Lara was moving slow as she too checked in cars and behind things. She was quicker to come across something, a female's leg. Just beyond it was a large pool of blood. She crept towards it and was almost on top of it when someone jumped down from off an abandoned truck. They crashed down on top of her and she landed hard on the floor, face first. She almost choked on the strong metallic scent of the blood that she was now caked in, having fallen into the pool.

She was ripped up from off the floor and slammed, hard, against a car. She threw her arm out and her fist connected with her attackers face. She wanted to see their face twist in the pain she knew it caused them but their face was concealed behind a black ski-mask. She wasted no time in kicking out her leg and again that connected with her attack.

She tried to throw another punch but her attacker threw himself against her body, putting all his strength behind the move. Lara was crushed between him and the car. She yelped in pain as she felt a rib _'crunch'_. It was an old injury that seemed happy to be aggravated and cause her more pain.

Flack heard her yelp from where he was and ran towards the sound, his heart pounding in his chest. He ran faster than he thought he possibly could, jumping and sliding over the bonnet of a car that was in his path.

Lara was pulled forward only to be slammed back against the car, this time it was her shoulder blades that crunched against the hard metal. Her attacker did it again and the base of her skull seemed to take the brunt of it this time. She pushed the blinding pain aside and threw her arms out, slapping her attacker's chest, pushing them back from her, but only making it easier for them to throw a punch right into her gut. She wanted to cry out in pain but it had knocked the wind out of her.

She doubled forward in pain, clutching her stomach. She didn't see the fist come towards her face, but she certainly felt it when it connected with her cheek. She fell face down in the pool of blood again, re-soaking her white shirt in it. That's when she noticed the piece of metal beside her. She reached out and grabbed it as her attacker stepped over her, ready to deliver another blow. She wasted no time in jamming the piece of metal as hard into their leg as she could, slicing the palm of her hand on it in the process

Her attacker roared in pain, at the same time Lara heard Flack calling out her name. "Flack!" she yelled back to him, hoping he was as close as he sounded.

She felt a boot slam into her ribs, painfully so, aggravating her injury further. She tried to push herself up but her battered body refused such a strenuous movement. She could only turn her head and watch as her attacker ran behind a pile of cars. An engine blasted to life and the sound of screeching tyres quickly followed. _They'd gotten away._

'Great' she thought to herself before she tried again to push herself up.

"LARA!" she heard Flack yell. _He was close._

"Flack!" she yelled again before groaning in pain.

She had just managed to get to her feet when he ran out of a maze of cars. He saw her and ran right over to her. He went to grab her, to steady her, but she stepped back on wobbly legs. "Don't!" she told him.

"Are you okay? Jesus, look at all this blood!" he panicked.

"It's not mine." she told him. It was half true because the majority of it _wasn't_ hers.

He reached out to touch her bruised face but she stepped back again. "You can't touch me, I'm wearing the evidence." she told him.

~0~0~0~0~

It hadn't taken long for more officers to arrive, as well as the ME and of course Mac and Jo. Whilst Mac was talking to Flack, Jo was sat in the back of an ambulance talking to Lara.

"He just appeared outta nowhere?" Jo asked her.

"Son-of-a-bitch jumped outta the sky like _freakin_ Batman!" Lara said as she lay there whilst a medic bandaged her stitched-up hand.

"You were lucky." Jo said, knowing how nasty things could turn when a suspect snuck up on you, aka John Curtis.

"I need to check your ribs." The medic said to Lara as he moved towards her stomach.

"I'm fine." she told him.

"I need to be the one to determine that." he said sternly.

"I'm telling you that I am fine." Lara told him in a tone that told him it was the end of the argument.

"Can you give us a minute?" Jo said to the medic who rolled their eyes and jumped out of the ambulance. After a moment Jo said, "You really should go to a hospital for an x-ray, your ribs could be broken."

"They've been broken enough times for me to know what that would feel like, and this idn't it. This is just bruised to hell." Lara said as she pushed herself into a sitting position, trying not to wince in pain.

Jo could only watch with sympathetic eyes.

"I guess you need my clothes now." Lara said to her.

"That's right." Jo said as she patted the pile of clothes next to her. It was a spare pair of her own clothes from out of the cupboard in her office. _Flack had called to ask Jo to pick something up for Lara because she would need a change of clothes._

Jo already had Lara's jacket so it was just her shirt and jeans. She opened up an evidence bag whilst Lara took her shirt off. She looked up when she held the bag out for Lara to drop her shirt into, but in doing so she couldn't help but notice the scars in Lara. They covered her stomach and chest, her bra concealing more.

Jo's mouth dropped open. She couldn't stop it, or the small gasp that escaped her throat. She looked up to stare Lara in the eyes but Lara refused to look at her. She dropped her shirt into the bag and reached out and grabbed the black t-shirt from next to Jo and threw it on, hiding what she knew Jo had seen.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. Hope you liked? **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to anyone reading. Not getting many reviews so just hope than anyone reading likes this. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY.**

**Chapter 3**

Hours had passed since the incident at the scrap yard and Flack, Lara, Jo and Mac where all at the crime lab. They were preparing to fill the others in on The Butcher's newest victim. _All of them were working the case because it had become so big. _Lara and Flack were already in the room with Mac and Jo, sat around the table, waiting for the others.

Lara still refused to look Jo in the eyes as she sat there in silence. She had her long brown hair tied back, and she couldn't wait to get home and wash it and herself. She felt so dirty and she could still smell the blood she had fallen into. She had washed her face, hands and arms in the toilets but it wasn't enough for her liking.

She looked up when one woman and three men walked into the room. She noticed how they all looked at her, _the new face._ She stood up ready to introduce herself to them but Mac beat her to it. "Lara, this is Danny and Lindsay, this is Adam our lab tech and this is Sheldon Hawkes, everyone this it Detective Lara Deluca. She's now working this case with us." Everyone smiled at her and took turns to shake her hand before the meeting began.

Lara had been more than happy that they all seemed happy to pay full attention to Mac, Jo and Flack during the meeting. They were also happy to answer any questions she had and didn't hold it against her for having to ask them. _She was after all still new to this case._ That didn't mean she wasn't determined to get the bastard who had attacked her at the crime scene. They had all concluded that Flack and Lara must have interrupted their perp before he had time to leave.

The meeting was sailing smoothly until Lara glanced up at the elevator as it _'pinged' _as it came to a stop and the doors opened. "Shit!" she muttered when she saw who had stepped out.

Her quiet outburst hadn't gone unnoticed by the others. "I'm really sorry, can you excuse me?" she said as she pushed herself up and stormed out of the room and towards the lift. The others all turned to watch. It was only Flack who saw who she was walking towards.

"Is that her little brother or something?" Adam asked.

"No, that's her son." Flack said, making everyone look at him, all sharing the same shocked expression.

"She's a mom?" Lindsay asked, thinking she looked far too young.

"That's what I said." Flack recalled as he pushed himself up and followed after Lara.

Lara stormed right over to Jace and grabbed his arm and guided him to the side of the corridor. "What the hell are you doing here? Why aren't you in school?" she asked.

"School sucks here! I want to go back to Michigan!" he said, loudly.

"Shh!" she said to him, "Jace, we can't go back there, you know that!" she whispered.

He didn't whisper back, "I. Don't. Want. To. Be. Here!"

"Jace, please, this isn't the place to discuss this. This is where I have to work!"

"All you care about is your stupid job!" he yelled at her, red faced and angry but also clearly upset.

"Jace, baby, you know that's not true." she said as she tried to touch his face.

Jace took a big step backwards and said. "It is true, Mom! I hate you for making me move here!"

Lara felt tears threatening to fall. She had no idea what to say to him, so she was relieved when Flack suddenly appeared by her side. "Jace, buddy, why don't you come with me and I'll take you to get a soda and some chocolate, then maybe I'll show you around the lab?" he said.

Jace nodded and Flack placed his hand on Lara's back before he led Jace away. Lara continued to stare at the wall before she practically ran to the toilets.

Inside them she barged her way into one of the cubicles and placed her hand on the back wall as she bent over the toilet and threw up. Her tears threatened to fall thick and fast but she stood up and forced them back. She flushed the toilet and turned ninety degrees to lean against the cubicle wall.

She heard the toilet door open as someone else walked in but didn't bother to shut herself in the end cubicle where she stood. She glanced to the side when she saw someone step into the doorway.

"Kids!" Jo said to her. She reached into the cubicle and grabbed some tissue and passed it to Lara.

Lara smiled and accepted the kind gesture. "Thanks." she said as she used the tissue to wipe away some stray tears that had fell. "You have kids?" she asked Jo as she walked over to the sinks.

"Two. Tyler and Ellie. Tyler is in college and Ellie is thirteen going on thirty." She smiled.

"Jace is nearly ten." Lara told her as she turned to face her. She laughed when she saw the look on Jo's face. "Go on, you can say it, _I don't look old enough to have a ten year old_."

Jo just laughed, having being caught out. "You just look so young."

"I was young when I had him, barely sixteen and a total idiot." Lara said.

"We all make mistakes when we're young." Jo said.

"Jace was never the mistake. He was never the problem. It's just his father that is."

"Are you two still together?" Jo asked.

Lara shook her head. "It took three years of being married to him to realise I had to leave, and it's just been me and Jace ever since."

"Thank God for divorce." Jo said.

"Jace is just mad at me because we had to move again." Lara said.

"_Had to_?" Jo asked.

Lara looked at her, suddenly realising she had already said too much. "Yeah," she said. "Thanks for the tissue." she quickly added before she dashed out of the bathroom, leaving Jo standing there, _puzzled._

~0~0~0~0~

It had gone 9pm by the time Flack had got to her apartment. He stood outside 5A wondering whether or not he should knock. He could hear music playing inside, it was quiet but he had a good ear. He knocked gently and waited. Finally he heard the chain come off and after a few more clicks and turns the door opened.

Lara looked confused to see him at first but then a smile spread across her face. "Two nights on the run…You' know some might call this police harassment." she joked.

"You look like hell." he said noticing how angry the bruise on her face now looked.

"You don't look so hot yourself." she said with a smile, on about the bruises left behind by the suspect she had tackled for him the first time they had met.

He just smiled and asked, "Can I come in?"

Lara smiled back and nodded. She stepped aside for him to walk in. She shut the door behind him then stepped around him and walked through the small, poorly lit, hallway. Flack followed and couldn't help but notice she only seemed to be wearing a blue bath robe, her hair hung loose and wet. _She must have only just gotten out of the bath or the shower, _he thought to himself.

He followed her into the kitchen and watched her climb up onto the counter. It was clearly a struggle for her. He guessed that had something to do with the beating she had taken earlier. She sat there, looking over at him, her long caramel coloured legs hanging down. Her robe had fallen over her thigh and so if sat exposed for him to see. _He had to really force himself not to stare at it._

He saw the large glass of red wine she brought up to her lips. He watched her take a sip and continued to watch as it travelled down her throat. He found his eyes roaming lower than her throat, right down to her chest. He could make out her cleavage from the way her robe had fell open slightly. He noticed again what he had seen during their 'fight' and he could clearly see it was a scar. There was no top or bra to hide it because she had nothing else on under the robe.

He pulled his eyes away, luckily going unnoticed by her. "Would you like some?" she asked him.

"Some what?" he asked, other thoughts on his mind.

"Some wine?" she said.

Flack just nodded. He figured he would just take a cab home.

He walked over to Lara who reached up and grabbed another wine glass from off the shelf behind her. She grabbed the bottle next to her and poured him a glass. He leant against the corner unit adjacent to where she sat, almost close enough to them to be touching, _but not quite. _

As they stood there he noticed the music that was playing softly in the background. He knew the singer to be Sarah McLachlan and although he may not admit it out loud, he liked her work. It created a soothing atmosphere and after the day she'd had he guessed that was Lara's idea.

"So, how's Jace?" he asked her.

She sighed and then spoke, "He's okay. We had a talk when we got home. I think he's forgiven me, for now." she said before she took a long swig of wine.

"Why did you move here in the first place?" he asked her.

"It's a really long story." she told him.

"Jace told me that you've moved a lot." Flack said.

Lara looked at him. "What else did he say?" she asked.

Flack looked at her. He noticed that she had an almost worried look on her face. "Nothing, just that he was sick of moving. I managed to distract him by showing him some of the computers in Adam's lab." he said.

Lara wasn't sure why, but she felt like she could trust Flack, so she told him. "We've been moving around since Jace was two. We've lived in a new state every year. At first it was three or four states a year, then it went down to just two and more recently it's been just one move a year. Michigan was the longest we've ever spent in one place, but then…well… Well we just couldn't stay there any longer."

"You must really like travelling?" Flack said.

Lara scoffed and shook her head, "Actually, I was just trying to avoid someone." she told him.

"Moving that much, more like hiding from someone." he said.

Lara looked at him, her expression telling him he was right. "Jace's father." she confirmed.

"Why?"

She shifted uncomfortably on the counter. This subject was always hard for her to talk about and it was something she had hardly ever done. "He's not the type of person I want Jace to be around." she said before taking another long swig of wine, finishing off her glass and then topping it back up.

"Why?" Flack asked her, reaching up and gently holding her arm, stopping her from silencing herself by drinking more wine.

Lara turned to look at him. She then looked down at his hand which lay on her wrist, touching her bare flesh. His touch was so gentle. She hesitated and then said, "He's not the type of person I want Jace to grow up to be like." Before Flack had chance to say anything she asked, "What about you, you ever been married?"

Flack laughed, knowing she was changing the subject. "No," he said and shook his head.

"Any serious relationships?" she asked as he moved his hand from her wrist and placed it down on the counter next to her.

Flack took his turn to hesitate before answering her. "Just the one, but I like to think we would have got married, done the whole family thing…"

"Let me guess, she hated the fact that you were a cop?" Lara said.

Flack shook his head, "No. No, she was a cop too." Lara could suddenly tell where this was going. "She was shot. She died." he told her.

"I'm so sorry." Lara said, placing her hand on his shoulder. She only meant to give it a supportive squeeze, but she found she couldn't seem to pull it away, no matter how hard she tried.

She looked at her bandaged hand as it sat there on his shoulder. She then looked up and her eyes met his. They seemed to just stare into one another's eyes, both becoming lost. Flack reached up and gently brushed his finger over her bruised cheek and she reached up and did the same.

What happened next seemed to happen beyond either of their control. They both put their wine glasses down and Lara parted her legs so Flack could step between them. He brought his hands up to cradle her face as she draped her arms over his neck. Their lips met, touching quickly, instantly knowing they wanted more. They allowed their lips to just quickly touch a few more time before they _needed_ more. The next kiss was much more passionate and continued to heat up until they had to break apart because they were both desperate for air.

The moment after they had both taken in a few greedy gulps of oxygen they began to kiss again. Flack grabbed a hold of Lara's legs and pulled himself closer against her body. Lara responded by wrapping her legs around his waist. Her body cried out for him and she could feel from his touch between her legs that his body was ready for her and needed her as much as she needed him.

Flack moved his kisses down her jaw and onto her neck. Lara moaned in pleasure and threw her head back to allow him to roam his lips further over her neck. His kisses sent waves of electricity pulsing through her body, making her want him more. Flack moved his hands from her face, he tucked them into her robe and had just felt the bare flesh of her stomach when she pulled away and pushed him back.

He was a little stunned as he stumbled backwards, crashing into the dining table. He had thought she had wanted things to progress as much as him, so he suddenly felt like a presumptuous jerk. "Lara, I'm so sorry." he said sincerely.

She tried to jump down off the counter, forgetting that her body was somewhat delicate. Pain shot though her ribs so strong that her legs buckled beneath her. Flack reached out and steadied her but she quickly swatted his hands from off her.

She tried to step past him but he stepped in her way. He wanted her to accept his apology. "Lara, please, I swear to God, I'm so sorry." he said to her.

"It's not you." she said as tears flooded her eyes. She tried to push past him again but once more he stepped in front of her, blocking her path. He carefully cupped her face in his hands and was relieved when she didn't push him away again. "What's up?" he asked as her tears began to fall. "If I pushed you too quick…" he began.

"You didn't." she told him and she placed her hands over his.

"Then what's wrong?" he asked.

She wanted to answer him. She wanted to spill her guts and tell him everything but she couldn't. _It wasn't safe. _That's the one thing she always told Jace. They couldn't ever talk about what they had been through. She thought about just showing him, showing him the scars, maybe they could explain it all better than she ever could. She shook her head and pulled away from him again._ God she'd had too much wine. _

She walked over to the bottle and grabbed the remains of it and poured it away down the drain. Flack walked right up behind her and said over her shoulder, "Lara, if this is about me seeing the scars on your chest…" he said, hoping he wasn't overstepping a line somehow.

She knew he had caught a glimpse of them, less than Jo had seen but he'd seen enough to make him curious. She turned around to face him and asked, "What scars?" She felt like an idiot for having said it the second the words escaped her lips, but it was too late to take it back.

Flack took a step back, _figuring he'd overstepped that line he'd been thinking about just seconds ago_. He watched as she pulled her bath robe tighter across her body. She could only offer quick sheepish glances his way as they stood there in silence. Flack couldn't take his eyes off her.

"What are you not telling me?" he had to ask after the silence had gone on far too long, even the CD had finished playing in the background.

She looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights. Of course she couldn't fool him, he was a Detective. She'd let her guard slip slightly and he'd seen right through it and now knew there was something more to her than she was telling.

"_Lara…"_ he began. "You have to go!" she snapped, cutting him off.

"Lara?" he protested.

"God, please just leave Flack." she said, her voice stained with desperation.

Flack didn't want to leave. He wanted her to talk to him, but he wasn't about to push her. He just nodded. "Okay." he said quietly.

She stood there forcing her tears back. She watched as he walked out of the kitchen. She stood there and listened until she heard the front door shut. Only then did she let her tears fall and standing in the middle of the kitchen she began to sob but only for a second before she forced them back. "Show no weakness!" she muttered to herself.

~0~0~0~0~

Mac walked out of his office, rubbing his temple where he could feel a head ache coming on. When he looked up he noticed the lights on in Jo's office. He headed straight to it and walked in, "Jo?" he asked, "What are you still doing here?"

Jo sat back in her chair and looked up at him with a telling look. A look he knew meant she was doing something she shouldn't be. "Jo..?" he said.

"I was looking something up." she told him.

"Who?" he asked knowingly as he perched himself on the corner of her desk.

"Lara." she told him.

"Lara Deluca?" he asked, not understanding why.

"Mac, there's something going on there."

"What have you found out on her?" he asked, trying to find a place for her to start.

"For starters she's a fantastic Detective, hence why she's in this job so young. She's helped solved some of the biggest cases of the last few years. Her father was a Detective here in New York up until 26 years ago when he and his wife moved to the South."

"Deluca…I thought that name sounded familiar. He was the one who brought down Martin Jenks." Mac said. "Jenks abducted and killed over a dozen children before he was caught…"

"By Jason Deluca…" Jo finished for him. "Lara must have been born after they moved to the south. She was a cheerleader at her school and from what I've found out a fantastic student. Then it all stops. There's hardly anything on her. It was like she decided to live off the radar completely. I mean completely, Mac. It's almost like she disappeared." Jo said to him, having his attention one hundred per cent.

"She was telling me she was married, young. She also said she had to leave her husband, taking her small son with her."

"Jo, lots of people who marry young split up."

"Mac, when she changed in the ambulance I saw these scars, all over her torso."

"What kind of scars?" he asked.

"Small, thin. All of them varying between and inch and a half to two inches long?"

"Knife marks…?" he said.

"I would say so." she confirmed.

Mac just looked at her in confusion. He stood up and grabbed a chair. "Let's keep looking." he suggested.

~0~0~0~0~

He stood there, leaning against the phone, his blue shirt wide open, his white t-shirt beneath it hung loose on him, as did the blue trousers he wore, he'd lost weight being here but not muscle. _He was making sure he didn't lose that_. "So, did you find her?" he asked as he scratched his face. He needed to shave but he liked the 'rough' look.

"_Yeah, she's in New York. She's looking good."_

"What about Jace, how's my son doing?"

"_He looks good too. He's getting big. He has her eyes."_ the voice over the phone told him.

He thought about Lara's eyes. How much he loved them. "Don't lose them again. I get out of this hell hole in a couple of days all going well. I want to be able to go right to them. I won't let anything get in my way, and I won't give her the chance to run again."

"_No problem, Cal. See you soon, buddy."_

"Yeah." Cal said before he disconnected the call. He stood up straight and handed the guard his cell phone back. "He found her. I'm getting my son and that bitch back." he said with a smile.

The guard smiled back at him and said, "Good. Now come on, back to your cell. Not long till I get you outta this shit hole."

Cal smiled and finished his cigarette. He stumped it out on the wall and flicked it to the floor. "That little bitch won't know what hit her." he smirked.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. Please leave a review and let me know what you think so far.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to all reading and especially to those who reviewed, it's awesome to hear that you like this story. So I was gonna save what happens in this chapter till later on in the story but decided that Flack needed to get some action in the bedroom department sooner. To anyone wondering about Lara's past, she's about to explain it, well some of it at least.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 4**

Jo walked along finishing off the hot dog in her hands. Ellie walked beside her, having already finished her own hot dog. Ellie was telling Jo a story about some girls in school that she didn't like because they were the _'mean girls'_ that every generation had to cope with, Jo could only laugh. She remembered being the same with her mom when she was in school, telling her the same stories, she'd hated the _'mean girls'_ too

Jo looked up from her empty hot dog wrapper and noticed a petite brunette walking along hugging a young boy who suddenly began to smile. She couldn't help but notice he had the exact same smile as his mother. "Lara!" she called out, "Sweetie, come on!" she said as she grabbed Ellie's hand and pulled her towards Lara and Jace.

Lara stood there, her arm around Jace, as Jo came to a stop in front of her. "Fancy seeing you here?" Jo smiled. "This must be your son, right?" she'd barely seen him when he'd showed up at the lab.

Lara smiled, "Yeah this is Jace. Jace this is Detective Jo Danville from work."

"Call me Jo." she told him, "This is my daughter, Ellie." Jo told them.

"Hey there." Lara said to her.

"Hi," Ellie replied sweetly.

"So what brings you two here?" Jo asked.

"Jace wanted to spend the day in Central Park seeing _all_ the sights in particular the Zoo." Lara said.

"Trust me you need more than a day to see the wonders of this place." Jo said with her usual friendly smile. "Feel like some company?" she asked.

Lara couldn't refuse. There was something about Jo that just made her feel safe to be around. "Sure," she said. "I'd like that."

~0~0~

They'd been walking around together for the best part of an hour, Ellie and Jace walked just slightly ahead as Ellie showed him all the best places of the park. Even though she was engaged in conversation with Jo, Lara never took her eyes off Jace for more than thirty seconds; _it was a force of habit._

"So, how are you liking living here in the Big Apple?" Jo asked her.

"It's…different." Lara laughed.

"Tell me bout it. I love this place but it was kinda hard to get used to at first." Jo confessed

"It's _totally_ different from anywhere we've ever lived." Lara told her.

"Ellie hated it when we first moved, but she wouldn't let me take her anywhere else now." Jo laughed.

"She's adopted?"

"Yeah, I adopted her when she was barely two and I cannot imagine my life without her. My biological son Tyler absolutely dotes on her."

"I would have loved for Jace to have had a sibling. I never had one growing up and I always swore when I got married I would have a whole bunch of kids." Lara said, thinking back to how stupidly naive she had once been.

"You're young, you could still have more." Jo said.

Lara smiled but shook her head and sighed and shoved her hands in her pockets, _a nervous habit._

"So what changed?" Jo asked, knowing something bad had happened to Lara.

Ellie and Jace had stopped to watch the sea lions getting fed so Jo and Lara sat down on a bench nearby. Lara sighed again and then hesitated before she thought again about answering Jo truthfully and not holding stuff back like she usually did. Cal was in prison now, perhaps it was safe to talk, and for some reason she really_ did_ trust Jo.

"The first time that Jace's dad hit me, I figured it was because he was drunk, and because I was mouthing off at him for not helping me out enough with taking care of Jace. He was just a new-born and I was young and had no clue as to what I was doing. He apologised promised never to do it again. He spent the next week sucking up to me, he even changed a diaper for the first time." Lara said with a faint smile which quickly disappeared.

"Then he came home one day about a month later, walked into the kitchen where I was doing the dinner and he beat the hell outta me. He said sorry and I figured he would change if I gave him the chance. I wanted Jace to have a real family so I stuck it out. I _really_ believed Cal would change. He didn't and I spent the next year and a half praying he would come home or just wake up in a good mood. Pretty stupid huh?"

"No, no not at all, you were young. Like you said you wanted your son to have a family but some might say you were just blind with love." Jo said to her.

"Well I wish I would have opened my eyes sooner, because one day about two weeks before Jace's second birthday he came home from work. I was feeding Jace in the kitchen and Cal stormed in there and began hitting me, harder than he'd ever hit me before. I kept asking him, _what have I done wrong?_ I kept telling him that _I was sorry_. He hit me some more then he slammed and pinned me down against the kitchen table and…" The words got lost in her throat. It sickened her to say them, "He raped me on the table right in front of my baby, and when Jace didn't stop crying Cal kicked his high chair over."

Jo felt so saddened that she had to reach out and place her hand on Lara's hand and give it a gentle squeeze. She could see the young Detective was struggling to hold back tears.

"I waited for him to fall asleep, I took whatever money I could find, I grabbed Jace and I ran. He caught up with us about a week later, beat me till I couldn't walk, and then dragged us home."

"How did you get out again?" Jo asked.

"I waited until I got better and I put some sedative in his beer and waited for him to pass out. I caught a cab to the bus station, a bus to the nearest airport and I flew us as far away as I could afford to."

Jo was more than shocked by what she had heard. "Where are your parents?" she asked.

"They died in a car crash just before Jace was born." Lara told her.

"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Jo replied.

"Thanks. You 'know, I just know that none of it would have ever happened if they were still alive. My dad tried to tell me that Cal was dangerous. I should have listened to him."

"Unfortunately in life we have to make our own mistakes, it's the only way we learn from them." Jo replied.

"Yeah, but mine have me _and_ my son running for our lives. I hate that Jace has to live like this but I can't stand the thought of Cal getting his hands on him. Jace is the sweetest kid in the world, he wouldn't hurt a fly but Cal would break that out of him."

Jo couldn't pull her eyes away from Lara's. The fear in them was totally obvious and it was so strong that Jo felt a shiver go down her spine. "What about the scars?" she suddenly had to ask.

Lara turned away for a moment but then turned to look at her again. She placed her hand on her stomach and ran her finger tips over the many scars on it. "Every time he finds me he cuts me with a knife, _twice,_ once for me and once for Jace. Like he's marking his territory like some sort of god-damn dog, reminding me we're his." she said angrily.

"Have you ever tried going to the police?" Jo asked in disbelief.

"I come from one generation of cops. He comes from generations and generations of cops and prison guards. It wasn't just him I was running from. It was literally his brothers in blue too. One of the benefits of being a Detective is that I can get to know the people who could be chasing me and Jace. It's helped me get us out of places before Cal could catch up with us, but not always."

"Do you know where he is now?" Jo asked out of curiosity.

Lara looked at her. She knew where Cal was, _in prison_, but she couldn't risk telling Jo in case maybe she told Cal where she was, or told someone else who may tell him. Cal had family and connections everywhere. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but better to be safe rather than sorry. She shook her head. "I have no idea." she lied.

~0~0~0~0~

Lara and Jo had continued talking, about things other than Lara's past. They had actually talked about Jo more than Lara for the rest of the time they spent together, which seemed to make Lara relax more. Jo knew she liked her but now she had truly developed a strong respect for the young woman. She was determined to find out more on Cal, but how she wasn't sure because Lara hadn't told her his surname and she hadn't wanted to push her.

They'd both headed their separate ways as the rain began to fall. Now, Lara pulled up outside her apartment building and both she and Jace climbed out of the car. The old blue sedan was nearing the end of its days, but it got her from A to B and it didn't stand out in a crowd. She liked to call it 'old reliable'.

She did her usual checks as she and Jace ran towards the building, desperate to get out of the heavy rain. She saw nothing to trouble her, _but that was only because she didn't see who was watching her._

~0~0~0~0~

Lara was stood in the kitchen. She had her cell phone in her hand. There was a message all typed up and ready to be sent but she found herself debating whether or not to actually send it. She glanced down and read it again. _'Don, sorry about last night. Feel like a drink and a chat, promise I won't freak out and kick you out. Lara.'_ "Just do it!" she told herself as she hit send.

She stood there and with each second that passed by in silence she wished she could take it back, but then her phone vibrated and bleeped in her hand. She opened the message and read, '_Sounds great, I'll bring the wine. I like you calling me Don._ : )_' _

She smiled as she locked the screen on her phone. She suddenly realised she was wearing pyjama's, _she had to get changed_. She ran across the living room and stopped when she saw Jace asleep on the couch, she had to smile at him. She crept over to him and scooped him up in her arms. She kissed his forehead as she carried him to his room and put him in his bed. He was already in his pyjama's so she tucked him in and turned the lamp on beside his bed.

"Sleep sweet, baby." she whispered as she kissed him again and brushed the hair back of his face. "Love you." she told him.

She crept over to the door and stopped when she heard him sleepily say "Love you too, Mom." She smiled and wished him goodnight before she closed the door. She then ran to her room to change.

~0~0~0~0~

It didn't take Flack long to get to her apartment. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white short sleeved t-shirt and a black jacket. He knocked on the door and waited for Lara to answer. As soon as she did he found himself smiling at her. _She had the ability to make him smile so easily._

She had on a pair of pale blue jeans that had a rip across the knee and one across her thigh, revealing her caramel coloured skin that he loved looking at so much. She also had on a black tank top, he caught a quick glimpse of her scars and he knew she saw it, but she didn't seem to mind.

"How can I help you, Detective?" she asked playfully.

"I received a text message from a phone linked to this address, I was hoping you could tell me who sent it?" he played back.

Lara couldn't keep it up, she just began to laugh. Her laugh was almost musical and Flack felt his heart melt just at the sound of it. "Come on in." she told him, still laughing slightly.

Once more, Flack, found himself following Lara into the kitchen. She reached into a drawer and passed him the corkscrew, and while he opened the bottle she reached up and grabbed two wine glasses. She turned to face him just as he popped the cork. She held the glasses out and watched as he poured the wine.

"You enjoy your day off?" he asked.

"Yeah, Jace and I spent it in central park." she told him.

"Speaking of Jace, where is he?"

"He's in bed, he was shattered by the time we got home."

"I got him this game," Flack said as he pulled it out of his jacket pocket. "He was telling me he had it but it got lost when you moved, figured I'd buy him a new one."

"You didn't have to do that." Lara said, feeling guilty that Jace had lost the game in the first place because they'd had to make a quick escape.

"It's okay. I wanted I to." he said as he passed it her.

She took it and placed it down on the counter. Smiling, she said, "He's gonna be so psyched when he sees that in the morning." She looked up at Flack to find him looking at her. "What?" she asked.

"You just look really happy is all?"

"You saying I usually look like a miserable bitch?" she asked, pretending to be offended, but her smile gave her away.

He laughed and replied, "No, but it's nice to see you really smile. That trip to the park must have done you some good." he said.

Lara nodded but she figured it was more to do with being able to talk to someone about her problems. She shook the thought away and asked, "You wanna come sit down?"

"Yeah, but first I want to apologise about last night. I think that wine really went to my head." Flack said.

"No…it was me. I'd had far too much before you got here, and getting attacked by our perp, it just made me act all pathetic." she said, "I don't usually drink…wine." she added making them both laugh.

"Well then let's take our time with this bottle." he said. Lara agreed and they tapped their glasses together to toast to the fact.

"Come on." she said to him, leading the way into the living room. She hit play on the CD player as she walked past it.

Flack sat down on the couch next to her where she sat sideways on it with her legs tucked underneath her.

"By the way, that perp attacking you scared the hell outta me. From now on I don't let your ass outta my sight at crime scenes where the perp could still be."

"So it's just my ass you wanna watch?" she joked.

"Yeah," Flack said, then thought about how it sounded, "I mean, no! I just meant I got your back." he told her.

She smiled, loving how she had made him blush. "Thank you." she said, his words meant a lot to her. It was nice, if not a little odd, to know she had someone watching out for her for a change.

Flack suddenly noticed that the CD playing was the same as last night, Sarah McLachlan. "Is this your favourite?" he asked, pointing to the CD player.

"It's kinda the only CD I own." she said, blushing at the fact. "It's one of the few things I make sure comes with me whenever we have to move. Having it and playing it is kinda like the only thing that makes somewhere feel like home for me. Stupid as it sounds she's like a comfort blanket."

"I like it." he told her.

"I adore her." Lara confessed. "So, come on, Don," she said with a smile spreading across her face. She liked how his name felt as she spoke it, "Tell me something about you that I don't know?"

"There's a lot about me you don't know, and there's even more I don't know about you." he replied.

"Very true, but I asked first." she defended, swallowing the wine in her mouth.

"Okay… err," It was hard for him to just think of something off the top of his head. He turned to look at her, trying hard to think of something. "I'm alive today because of a shoelace." he told her.

The look on her face told him she was baffled by his words. "Did you just say a shoelace?" she asked in disbelief.

Flack just nodded. "That and Mac. We were in a building when a bomb went off. I was badly injured and he stopped me from bleeding to death using a shoelace." He pulled his shirt up to show her the scar, proof he was telling the truth. She was momentarily shocked by the scar. She reached up and gently touched it as she did both of them felt the same wave of electricity soar through their bodies as their skin touched.

Lara glanced up at him but quickly looked down at the scar. "That's pretty impressive." she said still looking at his chest and the scar.

"I work out." he joked.

She smiled at sat up straight, pulling his shirt down for him.

"Your turn, tell me something I don't know about you." Flack said.

She sighed, as if what she was about to say was going to be the hardest thing she'd ever said, "I hate the colour pink." she told him simply, smiling she added "It reminds me of Barbie dolls and fairies, both of which I hate."

"That's it? I tell you about my near death experience and you tell me you _don't_ like pink because it reminds you of dolls."

"Hey, I didn't say it had to be personal." she smirked.

She saw how he looked at her. He wanted to know more about her and she was desperate to know more about him. She'd never let herself fall for another guy after Cal, but she found she couldn't stop herself from falling for Flack. She pulled her shirt down a little to reveal lots of little scars but one bigger one on the top swell of her left breast. It was an angry looking scar and it was the one he'd only caught glimpses of before now.

"I was stabbed." she told him. "They never caught the guy." she lied.

_The guy was caught._ The _guy_ was Cal and it was the reason he was in prison. He'd been seen by too many witnesses and so his connections couldn't get him out of it. Lara had got lucky because the knife hadn't been driven too deep into her body thanks to a bystander who had grabbed Cal as he'd swung the knife at her. That and she'd got medical treatment straight away and then, as soon as she'd been able to, she and Jace had ran again.

Flack reached up and delicately touched the scar, once more sending the same wave of electricity racing through their bodies, only stronger this time. He couldn't help but think that it didn't look that old. He wanted to ask her more about it, but when he looked up his eyes locked on hers.

Her eyes were the deepest brown he'd ever seen and he completely adored them. His fingers remained on her scar but his other hand came up to cup her face. She nuzzled into his hand and continued to look at him. Silence hung over them, but it wasn't an awkward one. It was one that dared them to make a move, _so they did._

Their faces inched closer until their lips finally touched. He dropped his hand to her knee. He didn't want to touch her anywhere that would make her feel uncomfortable. However, she reached down and took hold of his hand and tucked it inside her t-shirt and onto her stomach.

He could feel her scars beneath his fingers and he knew she must have known this. "Lara, are you sure you want this?" he asked as he looked into her chocolate brown eyes again.

She nodded and smiled. "Absolutely." she said and then moved her lips back onto his.

~0~0~

He wasn't sure how it had happened but somehow he and Lara had moved into her bedroom after having spent some time just allowing their mouths to explore each other's. They now lay on her bed, she was beneath him as he supported his weight on his left side. He had his hand on her stomach still and the other on her face as they kissed.

He pulled away from the kiss and looked into her eyes as she reached down between them and unbuttoned his trousers. He found himself following her lead. With them undone Lara pulled off his shirt. Flack was once more about to follow her lead but he hesitated. He then slowly began to pull her shirt off, she put her arms above her head to assist him, and to show him she was ok with it.

Flack couldn't help but look at the map of scars on her stomach. He gently traced his fingers over them. He then moved his kisses to them. Kissing each one like it would somehow heal the hurt he knew they had caused her.

Lara tangled her fingers in his hair and allowed herself to fall for him, for his touch and especially for his kisses. When he returned his lips to hers she kissed him back with a hunger that he copied. Their trousers were kicked off as well as any other clothing getting in the way of their need for complete contact.

Their hands explored each other's bodies, touching everywhere, just as their lips touched everywhere, leaving behind lingering kisses that tingled on their skin and sent little shocks of electricity to all the right places. Flack moved both his hands down Lara's sides. At the same time he trailed kisses over her breasts and down to her bellybutton and below it.

His touch and his kisses moved teasingly slow and made her moan beneath him and arch her body up against his. His body was ready for hers and hers was ready for his, her words only confirmed it, "I need you." she whispered to him.

"I'm right here for you," he whispered back before he kissed her lips again.

She placed her hands on his face and kissed him back with a hungry passion. She could feel how prepared his body was for hers as he lay on top of her. She bucked her hips up against him in another bid for him to give her body what it was now becoming desperate for.

Flack didn't leave her waiting any longer, he moved into her, slowly, gently and lovingly. Their bodies fit together perfectly, like puzzles pieces made to be together. They quickly found a rhythm that soon had them both threatening to fall over the edge and into pure bliss. Flack began placing kisses along Lara's jaw and down onto her neck and she moaned his name as it only intensified the pleasure she felt in the pit of her stomach, threatening to burst up inside her. His movements were slow but controlled and had her begging him for more.

His kisses stopped and their faces simply touched together as he began to move quicker, still controlling it so that she was desperately seeking the release only he could give her now. As he quickened his movements more she held onto him, ready to take him over the edge with her.

He moved quick, deep inside of her now, and he found himself climaxing with her. She moaned into his ear as pleasure took over her body. She'd never felt such a connection with someone and she never wanted it to end and Flack felt the exact same.

When it was finally over she kept her arms fixed around him and gazed up at him as he held himself above her, their bodies still joined as one. They were both out of breath, and both struggling to come down off the high they'd sent each other to.

Flack suddenly had to kiss her, the urge was too strong to resist. She kissed him back, she herself unable not to.

~0~0~0~0~

Cal was stood in the men's bathroom, the same guard stood beside him, waiting for him to finish up his call. The guard couldn't hear the conversation but from the way Cal kicked a trash can over he guessed it wasn't good news he was getting.

"You're sure?" he yelled angrily into the guard's iPhone.

"_Cal, I'm telling you, this guy went into her apartment. I saw them through the window. He hasn't come back out yet and he's been in there for hours now."_

"So whoever _he_ is he's sleeping with my wife." Cal snapped.

"_I thought you guys were divorced?"_

"She said _'I do'_ and that was for good in my eyes, she's my wife and she's screwing around while I'm in here."

"_Then you know what you have to do, buddy." _

"I do." Cal said before he hung up.

He threw the iPhone back to the guard who caught it and hid it back in his sock. The guard looked up, about to ask Cal what was going on but Cal was now stood right in front of him, a determined look on his face. "I need to get out of here…tonight!" Cal told him.

**TBC**

**Thanks for watching. Please review. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank to those couple of you reviewing and to everyone who is reading and adding alerts and stuff.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY.**

**Chapter 5**

Flack had woken up before Lara, who lay in his arms, her head resting on his chest. He was playing with a lock of her soft hair and hadn't noticed her wake up, he just felt her nuzzle her face into his chest and place a kiss there.

"Morning." he said to her.

She looked up at Flack and smiled, "Morning." she replied before they shared a sweet, loving kiss. "What time is it?" she asked as she rolled over and grabbed her phone from out of her trouser pocket, trousers that lay on the floor where she threw them back down once she had what she wanted from them.

"7.30am." she told him as she slapped the phone down on the bedside table and returned to Flack's arms and his warm embrace.

Flack traced soft circles on her shoulder as they both lay there in silence. "For the record, I haven't done that in a really long time." she suddenly said.

"Well then I'm happy to help you catch up." Flack joked.

Lara laughed and replied, "I'll bet." She looked him in the eyes and smiled at the seductive smile on his face. She pushed herself up and pushed the quilt aside so she could straddle him, their naked bodies tingling from the touch of bare flesh against bare flesh. He reached up and held her face as she leant closer to him so they could kiss. The kiss was cut short by his ringing cell phone.

He reluctantly pulled away from the kiss, "Hold that thought," he said and reached down and grabbed his cell phone from off the floor, not sure how it had actually ended up there. He guessed it had fallen out of his trouser pocket. "Flack," he answered. After a moment or two he glanced up at Lara and shook his head, telling her it wasn't good news. "I'll be right in." he said before he hung up.

"What is it?" Lara asked him.

"We have another victim. Runner found the body parts in the Rambles in Central park this morning." he told her. The second he'd finished her cell phone began to ring it. She climbed off of Flack and grabbed her cell phone, knowing she would be given the same order as Flack. "See you soon." she said after getting her order, before she hung up.

Flack had pulled his boxers and trousers on while she was on the phone. He grabbed his shirt and walked around to where she sat on the edge of the bed. He gently held her face and reached down and kissed her. He then said, "Thank you."

"For what?" she asked, puzzled.

"Last night. It was amazing." he told her.

She smiled and then kissed him again.

~0~0~0~0~

Lara had arranged with her neighbour to look after Jace, she trusted the old lady, she was nice and Jace liked her too. She'd rode with Flack to the crime scene, them having decided they would lie and tell people he had just picked her up.

At the scene they both climbed out and walked over to where two officers were standing. "Son-uva-bitch left us a right mess, two victims this time." One of the officers told them as they ducked under the crime scene tape, Flack holding it up for Lara.

They thanked the officer and headed over to where Danny was stood. He and Lara came to a stop and looked down at the dismembered head that Danny was taking pictures of. "Meet our first vic. What a way to spend your weekend, huh?" he said as he snapped another shot.

"Being chopped up or having to process a crime scene?" Lara asked him.

"Both." Danny replied with a friendly smile that Lara returned. "Rest of the bodies are scattered over there." he said pointing to the area.

"I'll check it out." Lara said, leaving Flack by Danny, where he had no intentions of staying.

"You two show up together?" Danny asked casually, taking more shots of the head.

"I picked her up from her apartment on my way over." Flack replied simply.

Danny stood up and just smiled him. He nodded, grinning. "Your shirt looks a little crinkled. Did you wear that yesterday as well?" he said before he walked off laughing to himself.

Flack could only shake his head and laugh a little. Of course a CSI would spot the signs. He looked up when Danny wandered back over to him and said, "For the record, I'm happy for you buddy. She seems really nice, and she's hot, but don't tell Linds I said that." he told him before he left him alone again.

Flack shook his head again, smiled and walked over to where Lara stood studying the body parts scattered on the floor. "Both female as usual." she said.

"Either he's getting cocky or just greedy. He's never left us two vic's at once." Flack said.

"He's escalating." Lara said knowingly.

She crouched down by a torso and noticed something on the shirt, a white powder. Flack saw what she was looking at. "You think it could be drugs?" he asked her.

She shook her head, "My mum used to spend every Sunday baking. She would make so much stuff that the kitchen would have what my dad and I called the_ 'flour cloud'_. If you walked into it the flour would gather on your clothes, it looked just like this."

"You saying that you think our vic liked to bake?" Flack asked her, impressed.

"Maybe, but if not her then maybe our murderer." Lara suggested.

~0~0~0~0~

Lara walked into the lab where Jo was stood working on evidence that had been collected from the scene at central park. "Hey!" Jo said with a smile.

"So much for a weekend off, right?" Lara said as she leant on the table Jo was working off. She couldn't help but rub her eyes.

Jo looked at her and asked, "Tired?"

Lara looked back at her, wondering if it was totally obvious that she'd gotten little sleep all night because she'd had far better things to do. She decided she'd lie, "No."

Jo's smile told Lara she wasn't convinced, but she was happy to carry on regardless. "Our perp is certainly adamant on keeping our attention. Two victims this time…" Jo said shaking her head, "He's showing us that he knows we haven't got any clues as to who he is yet."

"I can't wait to arrest this prick when we find out who he is." Lara said.

Jo reached up and stroked her shoulder, "We are gunna get this guy." she said encouragingly.

"Oh yeah, what makes you so sure?" Lara asked.

Jo just smiled at her and cocked her head to the side, "It's what we do best here."

Lara accepted that and smiled as she asked, "What have we got so far?"

"Well you were right about the powder substance, it _was_ flour."

"That doesn't tell us if our vic was the baker or our perp is." Lara said sounding defeated

"That doesn't, but I found chemical traces on our vic's hands and under their nails."

"Both of them?"

"Yep, and I found out our vic's both worked at a nail salon, the same one, more than that they were cousins."

"The chemicals?"

"Acetone."

"Something definitely used by nail technicians." Lara stated, "So what, our perp went to the nail salon saw them and figured he had to chop them up?"

Jo just nodded, "It tells us one thing."

"What?" Lara asked.

"That our perp really doesn't have a type. That he's just killing any woman he comes into contact with."

~0~0~0~0~

The team had continued to work the case for what remained of the weekend and at the end of it still had no idea who their perp was. Lara was in her Sedan heading home. Flack was going to join her there as soon as he could. She couldn't wait for him to be with her again, she felt so safe in his company.

She was so busy thinking about Flack that she didn't see the police car that was following her. When she did finally notice it, it had been following her for a couple of minutes, its lights flashing but it was only when it blasted its sirens that it caught her attention.

She pulled over at the next convenient place and rolled down her window. She waited for the officer who hauled himself out of the car and walked over to her. She tried to get a look at his face in her side mirror but his hat was tipped so low she could only see his nose and chin.

He held onto the top of her car and leant over her window, the night casting shadows on his face, concealing it more from her. "Do you have any idea how fast you were just going?" he asked her.

"My names Detective Deluca." she told him.

"That's not what I asked you." he stated bluntly.

She sighed and replied, "No, but I know I wasn't speeding, I don't think I could in this…"

"You were in fact going over the limit. Can I see your license?"

"Are you freakin' kiddin' me?" Lara snapped at him.

"Ma'am, get out of the car!" he told her.

"I wasn't speeding!" she protested.

"Ma'am, get out of the vehicle!" the officer yelled at her.

Reluctantly and clearly pissed off she did as he told her. The second she was on her feet beside her vehicle the officer spun her round and shoved her against the Sedan. He kicked her legs apart and slapped her hands down, shoulder width apart, down on the Sedan.

"What the hell? My name is _Detective_ Lara Deluca, homicide."

"I don't give a crap!" the officer snapped at her as he patted her down.

Lara was beyond annoyed. She glanced to the side and looked at the cop car that the officer had climbed out of. She saw another officer sat in it and she tried to concentrate on him to make out his face, however, the officer grabbing hold of her ass caught her attention.

She pushed herself away from her car and spun round to face him. She pushed him back and yelled, "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

The officer didn't answer her he just pointed to the other officer sitting in the car and signalled him over. Lara could care less, she was too busy trying not to lose it and punch this officer's lights out. However, his next words shocked her, _"It's her."_ The officer said to the other one who had joined them.

Lara turned to look at the officer and screamed. It wasn't an officer, it was Cal. She tried to scramble back into her car but Cal grabbed hold of her and slammed her against the car. He had one hand around her throat and in his other hand was a knife. "One for you, one for Jace." he told her as he plunged the knife into her stomach.

She screamed in agony, the feel of warm blood seeping down her stomach made her want to throw up. He plunged the knife into her again and once more she screamed in pain. "Jace is all mine now, you can't hide him from me anymore!" he growled at her before he plunged the knife into her chest.

_Lara shot up in bed,_ sweat pouring off her body, as she struggled for breath. She couldn't hold in her sobs, as her whole body shook with fear.

"Hey, what's up?" Flack asked as he sat up and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing his hands over her flesh, she was ice cold to the touch.

Lara didn't answer him she just squirmed around in his arms until she could hide her face against his chest and hold him. "Jesus, Lara, your shaking." he said, worried for her. Lara burst into tears in his arms. "Lara, what's up?" he asked before he placed a kiss on her head, desperate to soothe her.

Lara pulled away from him and placed a hand over her face, hiding her tears from him as she explained, "It was just a dream…"

"It must have been one hell of a dream." he said as he pulled her hand away from her face only to have her use her other to cover it. "Hey," he laughed slightly, "Lara, let me see your face." he said as he pulled her other hand away and gently held onto them.

Lara reluctantly turned her face from him. She hated crying but especially in front of someone else. She couldn't afford to show weakness like this. She had to look at him as he said, "You never have to hide your tears from me."

She wanted to say something but she was a sniffling mess and her words caught in her throat. "Lara, I'm not here to take advantage of you and I wouldn't hurt you for the world. You don't have to think crying in front of me will show me a weak side that would make you vulnerable somehow."

"How do you already know me so well?" she asked him.

"Because I'm already madly and completely in love with you." he said with a smile.

Lara smiled and laughed. She asked, "Really?"

Flack just continued to smile at her and nodded. He reached up and brushed her hair back of her face, he tangled his fingers up in her hair, _God _he loved the feel of it. He moved his face closer to hers and kissed her tear stained cheeks. He then kissed her sweetly and lovingly on the lips. He pulled back so he could look into her eyes.

"I'm in love with you too." she confessed.

Neither had ever expected to fall in love again and certainly not so quickly with someone, but here they were and they were totally in love with one another. They laid back down in bed and cuddled up together and fell asleep in one another's arms.

~0~0~0~0~

The ambulance sped down the road its sirens blaring. Prisoners of Carson City correctional facility suffering from severe medical emergencies where transported to the nearest hospital. The male patient roared in pain and writhed in agony on the stretcher in the back of the ambulance. The prison guard sat in there with him as a medic prepared a syringe.

"Get a move on!" the medic shouted to the driver, "I think we got a severe case of appendicitis here!" he yelled, panicked.

The medic leant over the patient, ready to administer some drugs. He never saw the arm that swung up at him. He barely felt the pain as a small but deadly shiv was plunged into his neck. He slumped back and reached up and put his hands over the fatal wound, however the prison guard beside him pulled his hands away and held them down and simply watched as the blood spurted quicker from his neck, taking the young medics life with it.

"One down, one to go." Cal said with a smile as he sat up on the stretcher.

~0~0~0~0~

_**The following day**_

"I found out that the flour is a particular kind of flour and that it's pretty rare in the USA. Only three places actually import the stuff in to use here in New York." Lindsay informed them at the meeting that Mac had called.

"Where's it imported from?" he asked.

"Russia." Lindsay told them. "There's a bakery out in Queen's that's owned by a Russian man named Viktor Buturovich, he came over from Russia over twenty years ago."

"It would be pretty ironic if 'The Butcher' turned out to actually be a baker." Jo said.

"We've seen more ironic things than that." Danny said.

"Let's go pay him a visit and find out." Mac said.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. Please review and let me know what you think. **


	6. Chapter 6

**I just want to say a really big thanks to everyone reading this story and for the great reviews. I'm having great fun writing it. It's great to be able to write about Flack, I love his character and feel sometimes he doesn't always get all the screen time he deserves, and creating a new character is always fun.**

**Can someone please tell me what the season finale was like? I live in England so we won't be able to watch it for weeks yet and I can't find a decent version on the internet to watch yet. Does anyone know for sure if the show has been cancelled or renewed yet, I keep reading that they still haven't decided?**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 6**

Mac, Lara and Flack all walked into the bakery together. It was a small place that only had three small round tables in it, each with two chairs at them. IT wasn't the type of place you would sit in to eat the food you bought here. They were chairs and table for people to wait at, for whatever goods they were here to get. The owner had quite a colourful record.

They all walked up to the glass counter unit, it was loaded with different types of cakes and pastries that actually looked pretty good. "Hungry anyone?" Flack asked.

"Only if you're buying." Lara replied.

Mac saw how the two of them turned to each other a smiled. He couldn't help but wonder what was going on between them. It was obvious something was, _there was too much in that smile_. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a man speak.

"What can I get for you?" he asked them, his Russian accent strong, his gaze locked on Lara.

Flack saw the way he snaked his eyes over her and he felt his blood begin to boil. If this guy _was _who they thought he was then he had no problem brutally raping and butchering women. He wondered if he'd given his victims the same look he was now giving Lara. However, she barely seemed bothered by it.

"Are you Viktor Buturovich?" she asked him.

"That depends who is asking, sugar-pie."

Both Mac and Flack turned to look at Lara, knowing she wouldn't be impressed by Viktor's words. "That's Detective Deluca." she spat back at him, holding up her badge. "This is Detective's Taylor and Flack." she informed him, pointing to both men.

"Both are very lucky men getting to work with….such a stunning creature." Viktor said as his eyes roamed over Lara's body once more.

"Mr Buturovich, we're not here for a friendly chat. We have some questions for you." Flack said matter-of-factly.

"I won't talk to you, or him." Viktor said pointing from Flack to Mac. He then pointed at Lara. "How about you and I go into the back room and you can ask me whatever you want to?"

"How's about you stop hitting on Detective Deluca, and instead come down to the station with us." Mac said, in total disbelief of how brazen Viktor was being.

Viktor looked at Mac and smirked before his sleazy gaze turned back to Lara. Then, speaking in Russian he said, "я мог подскажите, что такое настоящий мужчина, как." _I could show you what a real man is like._

Mac and Flack looked as confused as each other, wondering what the hell Viktor had just said, but Lara simply scoffed and replied, also in Russian, "Вы не получаете шанс колоть." _You wouldn't get the chance, prick._

"Я бы вам тогда винт нарезать вас, cyka!" _I would screw you then chop you up, bitch! _Viktor spat back at her.

"Ты жалкий убийца." _You're a pathetic murderer_. Lara snapped coldly at him.

Viktor glared at her, looking at her with angry eyes. He knew he had been caught. "Я хочу адвоката." _I want a lawyer, _he said.

"You're gonna need one." Lara said as she glared at him with eyes that told him he disgusted her.

Viktor glared at them all before he suddenly pushed everything from off the top of the counter off at Mac, Lara and Flack. It was only pre-bagged cakes and biscuits and some other things so it didn't hurt them but it gave Viktor a head start.

"He's going out the back!" Mac yelled knowingly as he whipped out his gun and gave chase.

"We'll cut him off!" Flack yelled as he and Lara took out their guns and went running out of the front of the store. Just two buildings down was an alley that led round the back of the block of stores including the bakery.

Flack found himself really working to keep up with Lara. It shocked him how fast she was for someone so petite. Luckily he was just seconds behind her because as she was about to run round the corner Viktor appeared. He swung his arm out at her and in his hand was a huge kitchen knife he'd grabbed on his way out.

It was only because Flack wrapped his arm around her and pulled her back that her stomach wasn't slashed open by the razor sharp blade. She and Flack both fell to the floor in a heap. Lara's gun fell from her hand and so she immediately pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and crawled up to the dumpster where _typically_ her gun had gone under.

Flack had also dropped his gun but had no idea where it had gone. He had a quick glance around but came up empty. He turned back to face Viktor and ordered, "Put the knife down!"

Viktor moved quick, swinging his arm down towards Flack. The knife was close to slicing into Flack's stomach when with the crack of a bullet Viktor stumbled backwards, roaring in pain and clutching his shoulder.

Flack turned to see Lara, lay on her back but her gun aimed up at Viktor. "Move again and the next bullet will be in your crotch you son-uv-a-bitch!" Lara spat at him.

Flack kicked the knife that had fallen from Viktor's hand aside. He pushed himself up and was about to arrest Viktor but Mac came up behind Viktor and beat him to it. "You're under arrest." Mac began.

Flack pushed himself up and walked over to Lara and reached his hand out to help her up. She took it and let him pull her up to her feet. "You okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine. Are you okay?" she asked.

"Thanks to you." he said to her.

She smiled and said, "I like watching your back, means I get to look at your ass."

~0~0~0~0~

The team were already in the bar, when Flack and Lara walked in. Everyone cheered for them. The Butcher was in jail and there wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that he wouldn't be going to prison for the rest of his life. Neither Lara nor flack refused the beers that were given to them. They clanked their drinks together with everyone else and joined the crowd in their celebrations.

They stood there listening to the conversations everyone was sharing but Flack had to ask something that was playing on his mind, "So, here's a question," he began, turning to face her, "how do you know how to speak Russian?" he asked.

"My mother was Russian, my Grandparents moved to New York when she was just a baby. They always spoke Russian when they were at home. She taught me when I was a kid."

"And your father?" he asked.

"Italian,"

"That's kinda obvious I suppose." Flack said thinking of her surname.

"So, what do you say to getting out of here in a while and having an early night?" Lara suggested.

"I thought we were celebrating." Flack asked with a smirk.

"We can celebrate at my place." Lara replied.

"In that case let's get going." Flack said putting his beer down and taking a step towards the door.

Lara couldn't help but laugh, "Easy tiger! Let's have a few more drinks here and then we can get going." she said as she took hold of his hand. Something no one noticed because they were all too happy drinking. _Finally their case was over._

~0~0~0~0~

The following morning, Lara was at her desk. She was finishing up paper work on _'The Butcher' _case. All the other Detectives and officers were offering her pats on the back, or high fives or simple head nods. She was still getting praise for helping solve one of the toughest cases the department had been faced with for a while. _She loved it,_ loved how she had been completely accepted here now. _She was one of the team._

She sat back in her chair and looked around the bullpen. _She was so happy here._ She glanced at Flack's desk, it stood right by hers, so that when they sat down they were face to face. She closed her eyes for a second and could feel Flack's arms around her, his soft kisses on her lips. She opened her eyes and realised she couldn't wait for him to get into work so she could see him again. He'd gone home to get ready after leaving her place this morning.

She was smiling, wondering when she'd last been happier, that was when she suddenly noticed the small TV screen that was up on a bracket in the corner of the bullpen. The news was on and the second she saw the head line she felt her heart miss a beat. There were only two others actually paying attention to the screen, everyone else seemed oblivious to the important new update.

With her heart pounding wildly in her chest she listened, just able to hear the words over the racket of the busy bullpen. _"Two medics where killed when the patient being transported from Carson City correctional facility to the County general hospital pulled out a knife. It's unsure how the prisoner got the knife but what is sure is what police officers who arrived on the scene are calling a blood bath. A prison guard is also missing. It's thought the decorated officer was taken hostage by the prisoner and is presumed most likely dead. The prisoners name is Callahan Matisse. He was in prison for attempted murder. Police have cautioned the public not to approach the man as he is thought armed and very dangerous."_

Lara had to put a shaking hand over her mouth out of fear she was going to be sick. She stood up from her desk feeling horribly dizzy. _Cal can't be out of prison_, she thought to herself. She almost jumped a mile out of her skin as she felt a hand touch her arm and heard someone say her name.

She spun round to see Jo standing beside her. Jo clearly looked alarmed by her reaction. "Lara, sweetheart, what is it?" Jo asked, one more placing her hand on Lara's arm.

"Jo….Err…. Jo, I have to go. I can't explain, I have to get Jace and we have to go. Can you tell Flack? Please, tell him I'm so sorry but I can't stay. I have to go." Lara told her hysterically.

Jo placed both hands on Lara's arm, steadying her as she swayed in front of her. "Lara, what's going on?"

Lara glanced around the room, happy no one really seemed to notice what was going on. She had just attracted the attention of one officer, who didn't seem that interested anyway. She turned to face Jo again and said, "Jo, I have to go. Cal's escaped from prison."

She stormed past Jo before even giving her chance to reply. Lara was already storming across the bullpen and by the doors by the time Jo took off running after her.

"LARA!" she called after her once she had followed her out of the doors and onto the street. She spotted Lara already by her car, trying to unlock it with shaking hands. "Lara, wait!" she called as she ran towards her.

"Jo, I have to go! Thanks for everything. Please, tell Flack." she yelled to her before she climbed into her car.

She had the engine started and had pulled out into the street just as Jo got to her. Jo could only stand there and watch as Lara drove away. She pulled out her cell phone and dialled Flack. It went straight to voicemail. _Immediately she tried again._

~0~0~0~0~

Lara had picked Jace up from school and made it home in record time. She was now racing around her apartment with her arms full of clothes. She had two cases open on the couch and was fitting what clothes she had in one case and stuff belonging to Jace was going into the other.

"MOM!" Jace yelled, storming over to her.

Lara didn't ignore him but she was in a panic now and getting packed was all that mattered. The quicker they packed the quicker they could get gone, far from where Cal would come looking for them. She was trying to work out in her head what was most important to take, she'd done this a hundred times but each time panic had her mind all a jumble and she could barely think straight.

She stuffed all and any money she had in her bag, she had no valuables except for her mother's chain and her grandmother's ring and those never came off anyway. Of course her Sarah McLachlan CD went in as well.

"MOM!" Jace tried again as he followed her round like a puppy, pulling his things back out of the case as she put them in.

She turned and had to be careful not to barge into him. "Jace, I swear to God, you have less than ten minutes to grab what toys will fit into that box!" she told him as she pointed to the small box by the couch.

"Mom, I don't want to leave! I like it here!" Jace yelled at her and kicked the box away in protest.

"The other day you were telling me you hated it here, that you hated me for bringing you here!" she replied.

"I changed my mind! I like it here now. I don't want to leave!" he told her, still yelling.

"Jace, we don't have time for this!" she said her voice stained with fear. She hated how Cal had the ability to scare her out of her wits when he wasn't even around her.

"I'm not going! I have friends here, Mom! This isn't fair!" he yelled as tears built in his eyes.

It made her even angrier at Cal that because she had to run from him, Jace did too. She wished he could have a normal childhood, the kind she had always promised herself her children would have. She wanted to stay calm but her emotions won over, "Damn-it Jace, you think I want to go? I have friends here too, for once. I like my job, I found a guy I could lov…." she had to stop herself._ 'never get attached'_, she silently reminded herself.

She shook her head in an attempt to shake away her emotions. She walked over to the box and grabbed it. She passed it to Jace and said, "Baby, please. Just pack what you really don't want to leave behind. We have to go to Grand station and take the train so nothing heavy."

He glared at her, the same look she used to intimidate hardened criminals,_ God he was so much like her_. "Go!" she told him sternly.

Jace snatched the box from her hand and stamped his foot down. "I hate you!" he yelled at her as he stormed towards his bedroom and slammed the door shut.

It broke her heart to hear it but she didn't have time to worry about it. "Five minutes, Jace!" she yelled to him, trying not to cry before she headed into the kitchen.

Jace opened his bedroom door and saw Lara was no longer in the living room. He spotted her cell phone on the coffee table and ran over to it and began typing out a text.

~0~0~0~0~

Flack walked into the bullpen, wondering what cases would be thrown at them today. He was nowhere near his desk when Jo ran up to him and slapped him on the shoulder. "What I do?" he asked.

"Why haven't you been answering your phone?" she asked him, pushing him back out the doors.

"Battery died. I was charging it while I was having a shower. I just need to turn it back on." he said as he pulled it out of his pocket.

"Damn-it, Flack, I've been trying to call you for the last hour and more!"

"Jo, what's going on?" he asked, becoming worried as texts began flooding his phone as it came to life.

"Lara's gone!" she told him.

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"I'll explain on the way over to her apartment, come on! Let's go!"

Flack was totally confused by her words. He looked down at his phone as a message suddenly came through. "Wait, she's text me. It's not from her, it's from Jace. They're going to the Grand central station. Come on!" he said, and they both raced over to his car.

They climbed in and buckled up. Jo decided she had to fill him in. "How much do you know about her ex?" she asked.

"Not a lot." Flack told her.

"Ok, I guess I better tell you." she said as he pulled into the traffic and sped off with sirens blazing.

~0~0~0~0~

Lara was trying to navigate her way through Grand central. She pulling two heavy suitcases behind her as well as carrying a large over the shoulder bag and a purse. Jace was carrying a smaller shoulder bag and carrying the small box of toys.

He kept checking over his shoulder, slowing them down.

"Jace, come on, keep up with me." Lara told him.

She turned when she heard a crash just behind her. Jace had dropped the box and his toys now lay scattered across the floor in the middle of Grand central. "Jace, baby, we don't have time for this!" she told him as she dropped her own bags and bent down to help him gather the toys.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" he lied to her.

"Lara!" she heard.

She shot to her feet and looked around, panicked. Her heart rate settled a little bit to see it was only Jo and Flack. _She didn't want Flack here though_. She already felt hot tears begin stinging her eyes. She had no idea how she would be able to say goodbye to him face to face.

She passed Jace the box of toys back and scooped her own back up. She was about to make a dash for it when Flack and Jo came to a stop right beside her. They were both out of breath.

"Don!" Jace cheered happily and dropped the box again so he could wrap his arms around Flack.

Flack hugged him back, said, "Hi, buddy." He then turned to face Lara who was struggling to look him in the eye. He was shocked by what he saw, the luggage she had. Clearly she wasn't off on some overnight stay, it was clear what was happening but he still had to ask. "So you're running again?"

Lara glared at him then turned to look at Jo who gave her a look that said I had to tell him. She wasn't' mad at Jo as she turned to face Flack again. "It's not like I have a choice." she said as she pulled Jace away from Flack and passed him the box of toys again.

"Yes, Lara, you do!" he told her firmly,

"Oh yeah and what do you suggest I do, Don?" she spat, annoyed.

"You stay here and if Cal…"

"There is no _'if'_, Don. Cal _will _find us and this time he _will_ kill me and he _will_ take Jace."

"This is New York, you really think he will find you?"

"Yes. Don, he found us in Virginia, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Wisconsin and Michigan….No matter where I try to hide he finds us. He's like my own fucking bogeyman, my shadow that I can't shake off!"

"Lara, sweetheart we can help you." Jo said to her.

"I've heard that before, Jo, and I have yet to see it. No one has ever helped us." she said.

"I will! I'll look after you!" Flack told her, "We all will!"

"If he think's I've slept with another man he will kill me, slowly and more painfully than he probably already intends to, then he'll find you and he'll kill you too!"

Jo had suspected that Lara and Flack were seeing each other but Lara's words now confirmed it. "I thought you said he loves you. Why would he kill you?" Jo asked

"Because if he can't have me and Jace then no one can…!" she said, "his words, not mine…" she said, _hearing Cal growling them very words at her. It made her skin crawl._ "I wish I could stay, but we just can't."

"Don, please, make her let us stay. I don't wanna run again." Jace said.

Lara hated that she had let Jace get close to someone, she never had relationships because she never wanted Jace getting hurt, but this was gonna hurt him. "Jace, we are going. It's not up to Don." she told him.

Flask just looked up at her as Jace turned to face her. "I wanna stay here! I want Don to live with us. I want him to be my dad!" he said.

"Jesus, Jace, Flack doesn't want us!" she yelled, becoming so sick of hearing her own voice.

Jace ran off and sat down on a bench just a couple of feet away. Lara knew she'd hurt him and she wanted to shoot herself in the foot for having done so. She looked at Jo who just smiled sympathetically at her. She couldn't stand to look at Flack. She pulled her bag back up on her shoulder, tears burning her eyes. Jo was watching the whole heart-breaking scene play out unsure who to most feel sorry for. She glanced at Flack and was sure she saw tears building in his eyes.

"You're wrong." Flack suddenly said to Lara as he grabbed her hand, holding it gently but firmly enough so she couldn't move away, not that she tried to. "I'd give anything for you to stay, and if you do I will stay here with you and Jace and keep you both safe." he said. "Let me be a part of your family."

Lara's tears burst their banks and a pitiful sob escaped her throat. It didn't sound like her, but then, she wasn't sure when she had last cried like this, this heartbroken._ She didn't want to go,_ she had so much keeping her here this time and so did Jace.

Flack pulled the bag down off her shoulder and put it down by his feet. She let go of the suitcases and let him wrap his arms around her. "You have no idea how terrified I am?" she cried as she held him.

"You don't have to be." he said as he placed a kiss on her head. He pulled back and kissed her cheek, kissing away her tears. She placed her hands on top of his, which both gently held her face. "Cal is not going to kill you because I won't let him. I would never let him take Jace away from you."

She couldn't control her emotions any longer and her sobs escaped full force, as did her tears. She threw herself against Flack's chest, wrapping her arms around his back and holding onto him for dear life. Flack enveloped his arms around her again and softly kissed her head as she continued to cry.

Jace stood up from the bench, watching them, a smile on his face. He turned to look at Jo and his smile grew. She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around him and they both watched as Flack continued to hold Lara as she cried.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. Please review and let me know if you want more.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to everyone adding alerts and to those who reviewed. I'm sorry this has taken so long but here it is, hope you like. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY. Song and lyrics aren't mine either, just borrowing them.**

**Chapter 7**

_**2 weeks later**_

Lara used her knee to knock his from under him, keeping hold of his arm as he fell to the floor flat on his back. She threw herself down on top of him, straddling him. She slapped her hands down on the mat, either side of Flack's face. "I win!" she smiled.

"I always let you win." he said as he reached up and cupped her face before sliding his hands down to rest on her hips.

"Let me?"

"Yeah, what can I say, I like you on top." he said with a grin.

Lara laughed and leant forward and kissed him. She then pushed herself up and offered him a hand which he took. They were supposed to be training but the gym was empty, for once, so it had turned into a little more than training.

"So, showers next?" Flack joked.

"Ha! I wish." Lara replied, "How's about we go back to my place and take one together. Jace is staying over at his friend's house tonight."

"He told me bout that party. I gotta say I'm surprised you let him actually go."

Lara just looked sheepishly at him.

"What you do?" he asked.

"I bought him a cell phone today… and I ran a background check on his friend's mother…and his dad…and his older brother." she said, looking at the ground, knowing she had broken the mom code, but she didn't care.

"Did they check out?" he joked, trying to sound serious.

"Squeaky clean." she told him.

Flack had to laugh as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his body and nuzzled his face against hers before kissing her cheek. "God, I love you!" he laughed.

Lara twisted round in his arms to look him in the eyes. "Good." she told him as she kissed him sweetly on the lips, "I love you back." she smiled before she pulled away, eager for them to get home so they could take that shower.

~0~0~0~0~

_**Don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore?**_

_**You lost the love I loved the most.**_

_**I learned to live half a life**_

_**And now you want me one more time.**_

_**But who do you think you are, running round leaving scars**_

_**Collecting your jar of hearts and tearing love apart**_

_**You're gonna catch a cold from the ice inside r soul**_

_**So don't come back for me, who do you think you are?**_

_**I hear you asking all around if I am anywhere to be found…**_

Lara was busy looking out of the passenger side window at the city passing by, the city she had come to love so much. It was the type of place that crawled right under your skin, _in a good way,_ and take hold of you, whispering to you _'you belong here.'_

When she suddenly heard the song quietly playing on the radio she reached forward and shut the damn thing off as a cold shiver ran right down her spine, making her shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"You don't like that song?" Flack asked her.

"Have you ever really listened to the words?" she asked him.

He thought about it and although he was probably able to sing every word along to the song, not that he would admit to it, he hadn't really paid much attention to them. He turned to face her, smiled and shook his head before returning his gaze to the road.

"I hate this song, so of course Jace was obsessed with it, but I think that's because he has a crush on Christina Perri. I was so happy when she brought out the song for the newest Twilight film because then he started listening to that over and over."

Flack desperately tried to think of the words but his mind was a blank. "Why do you hate it so much?" he asked.

Lara sighed and reached forward and turned the radio back on, filling the car with the haunting words of the song,

_**It took so long just to feel alright**_

_**Remember how to put back the light in my eyes**_

_**I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed**_

_**Coz you broke all your promises**_

_**And now you're back you don't get to get me back**_

_**And who do you think you are…?**_

Once more she switched it off. Flack had heard the words and he could suddenly understand why she hated the song. He reached across and placed a supportive hand on her slender thigh. She placed her hand on top of his and brought it up to her lips and kissed the palm of his hand before she placed it back down on her thigh.

They travelled the rest of the way back to her apartment in a peaceful silence.

~0~0~0~0~

Lara and Flack were lay on the couch in one another's arms. They'd had their shower but had decided they weren't satisfied yet and had only made it to the couch before they'd needed the connection of their bodies again.

Afterwards, Flack had pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and lay it over them, keeping their bodies warm. Lara was beginning to drift off to sleep in his arms and he found he was content to sit awake all night watching her. He reached forward and kissed the tip of her nose. The corners of her mouth curled up into a smile and she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "What was that for?" she asked.

"Cause I love you." he told her.

She smiled at him then rolled her body on top of his. She leant down and kissed him sweetly on the lips, allowing the kiss to linger long enough to get his body reacting. "I love you too."

~0~0~0~0~

Lara pulled up outside the home where Jace had spent the night. She smiled when she saw him and his friend high five before he turned and ran towards the car. She loved seeing he had made new friends and was happy for him having stayed overnight at a friend's house for the first time. A little -and she knew selfish - part of her hoped he had hated it because even though Flack had kept her happily occupied all night, she had missed her son terribly.

"Hi Mom!" he said happily as he climbed in.

"Hey baby," she said and reached over and placed a kiss on his head, "did you have a good time?" she asked.

"Yeah! They have this big room with a huge TV in it, like the kind at the cinemas. We watched films all night and ordered pizza and played computer games!" he said excitedly.

Lara smiled as she pulled out, "Glad you had fun, kiddo."

~0~0~0~0~

Jace talked the whole way home, telling her about all the films they had watched, the type of pizza's they had ordered and the computer games they had played. Lara was so happy listening to him that she never noticed the car following them, always staying at least three cars back.

When she pulled up outside her apartment building the car simply sailed past, still unnoticed by her. If she had seen it, or seen who was in it, she would have seen the person she feared the most….Cal.

_He had grown more than impatient. He had waited long enough. He wanted her and his son back, as soon as possible._

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. Please review and let me know what you think. **

**There's some dark chapters coming up soon just as a warning. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to all reading and writing. **

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my Grandma who passed away today. **_**Love you always.**_

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 8**

The team were all enjoying another movie night, in Lara's case her first. They were watching a horror - _something they often did_ - Flack had told her as he had taken hold of her hand under the table.

They were both sure the rest of the team knew about them now but they weren't ready to flaunt the fact and luckily the fact had seemed to have gone no further than the small group of friends. Lara was most happy about this because it meant she didn't have to worry about the wrong person finding out. She trusted everyone in this room and it was nice for once to be able to enjoy her spare time with friends.

Lara reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone as it buzzed and saw she had a text message. She quickly read it and then double checked the time on her watch - time really did fly when you were having fun.

She moved closer to Flack and whispered into his ear, "I'm gonna have to go. Charlotte, my sitter, is waiting to go home. I told her I'd be back a half hour ago. She has exams in the morning."

"Ok, let's go." Flack whispered back to her.

"No, you stay here." she told him, "Join me when the movie's over." she said, knowing no one else could hear their conversation as they were all too busy playfully criticising the blood spatter in the movie.

"You sure?" he asked, giving her hand, which was still under the table in his, a quick squeeze.

"Yeah, enjoy the movie. I'll warm up the bed." she said with a small seductive smile. Her face was so close to his that she couldn't resist placing a quick but loving kiss on his cheek before she stood up. Flack could only watch her leave, smiling like a fool, _a love-struck fool. _He turned to the side and noticed that only Jo and Mac were watching him, both with huge smiles on their face, laughing, he turned to face the TV again.

~0~0~0~0~

Lara threw her keys down on the cupboard as she made her way through her apartment. "Charlotte, I am soo sorry! I totally lost track of time!" she called out as she made her way towards the living room.

She could see the back of Charlotte's head over the back on the couch. She walked right up behind her and asked, "Jace go to bed okay?"

She suddenly wondered if Charlotte was asleep as she had yet to answer her. She was about to reach out and touch her when the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end and an icy chill ran down her spine. She felt someone's warm breath on the back of her neck and for a second she was sure her heart stopped. _"She can't answer you."_ She heard an all too familiar voice say.

She quickly reached to her belt, for her gun in its holster, but a huge hand caught her wrist, squeezing it tight as she was spun around to face the owner of the hand that continued to assault her wrist, she couldn't help but yelp in pain.

The moment she looked up into the eyes of the person holding her she felt her legs give out beneath her. With a desperate _"No!" _she tried to pull out of her ex-husband's painful grip. He quickly tangled his hand up in her hair and tugged it back, hard.

Lara couldn't help but yelp in pain again. "Cal, don't! Please!" she begged.

Cal smirked as he glared down at her. She saw his eyes scanning her face and then her body. "God, I've missed you." he muttered to her.

"Where's Jace?" she asked him, panic flooding through her.

"Don't worry, he's fine. He's gonna be coming with us."

Lara heard a crash coming from inside Jace's bedroom, _something had smashed._ Panic flooded through her with a new found fury and she tried to pull herself out of Cal's grip, not caring if half her hair was ripped out in the process. Cal seemed to let her go, however, before she had chance to run towards Jace's bedroom the back of Cal's heavy hand whipped across her face with such force it spun her round so she fell to the floor on her hands and knees with her back to now him.

She yelped as his heavy boot slammed into her back knocking her flat to the floor. She knew what was coming next and so instinctively wrapped her arms around her stomach as Cal kicked her once, twice, three times, four times…the pain in her arms quickly blurred her thinking and she soon lost count of how many times he'd kicked her.

She was slightly relieved when he grabbed the top of her arm and pulled her to her feet. This time as he hit her across the face he kept hold of her arm, so although his knock would have sent her crashing back down his grip kept her upright.

She blinked away tears of pain in time to see him ready his arm, ready to hit her again. "Cal, stop, please!" she begged.

Cal glared down at her and for a second his dark eyes seemed to soften. Lara gazed up at him and tried not to think about the blood she could feel filling her mouth or the blood she could feel dripping from her nose and bust lip.

She couldn't seem to be able to stop her entire body from shaking. Her hands, which were hovering in front of Cal's chest, held up as if in surrender, trembled most wildly. She daren't lay a hand on Cal, she'd learnt that the hard way and had been unable to walk for three days because of it, but she couldn't seem to move her hands away, it was like she was paralysed with fear.

"Cal, please," she begged again, more desperately.

She flinched as his hand came up to her face but instead of hitting her he gently stroked his fingers across her bruised cheek. "You're more beautiful than ever, practically glowing." he said. Lara gulped loudly, as she waited for the 'but' that was coming up. "You shouldn't have cheated on me, Lara. Now you have to suffer." he told her before he let go of her and took a step back only to swing round at full force and slam his fist into her face.

Lara stumbled sideways and fell, she didn't remember hitting the floor because her head hit the corner of the cupboard with a deafening crunch, instantly enveloping her into nothing but blackness.

Cal stood there looking at Lara's lifeless form by his feet. He didn't even seem to notice that his knuckles were cut wide open and dripping with blood. He turned around and watched as his friend, the prison guard, walked out of Jace's bedroom. He was struggling to hold onto Jace with one arm as he held his other hand over Jace's mouth in an attempt to stop him from shouting. Jace's eyes went wide when he saw his mother lying on the floor, bleeding and lifeless.

"Put him in the van." Cal told the guard. He then turned to face Lara again.

The guard carried Jace out even though he continued to squirm in his arms, kicking his legs wildly and trying to shout for help through the guards gloved hand.

Cal crouched down beside Lara and tucked a stray lock of bloodied hair behind her ear. "Time to go, sweetheart!" he said as he reached down and grabbed a hold of her. He threw her over his shoulder with ease and walked towards the front door, he didn't even bother shutting it as he stepped through it.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading, hope you liked. Please review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks to those reading and to anyone who is leaving a review. It's great to hear what you think about this story.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY.**

**Chapter 9**

Flack pulled up outside Lara's building, switched his car engine off and then climbed out of his car. He locked it and made his way casually over to her building. He was smiling as he made his way up to her apartment. He always found himself smiling when he knew he was about to see her. He finally reached her floor and took a step towards her door but when he looked up he suddenly froze.

_Her door was open slightly._ Immediately he wondered why it would be open. He silently took out his gun and crept over to her door. He tried to look through the small gap but he could see nothing. He shifted right up against the door and nudged it open with his shoulder and ducked through it. His gun was aimed and ready in his steady hands.

From what he could see so far everything looked okay. He looked down and noticed her keys where she usually put them, so she had indeed been home since she had left the lab. He took a few more slow and silent steps forward, he wanted to call out to her but he just knew something wasn't right. His heart was pounding in his chest and the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end.

He suddenly found himself by the living room. He could see someone slumped on the couch. He knew from the straightened bleach blonde hair that it wasn't Lara but he still moved towards the person with a new found speed. He moved round the front of the couch, his gun aimed still. What he saw made him drop his arms down. He realised one hand from his gun and reached out to check the pulse of the young teen he knew to be Charlotte, Jace's babysitter.

"Fuck…" he muttered.

She had no pulse. "LARA!" he yelled as he stood upright, "LARA!" he yelled louder as he ran to her bedroom and began to search it. It was a mess, everything had been tossed around. Her clothes lay strewn across the floor where the cupboard drawers had been ripped right out. There was one drawer that had a few of his things in and that too lay on the floor among the mess.

He saw that her mattress was hanging off her bed. Flack moved over to it and flipped it over, part of him expecting to find her bloodied underneath it. She wasn't there and he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

He dashed out of her room and towards Jace's bedroom. "JACE!" he called out as he burst into his room. It wasn't as messy as Lara's but it was clear some sort of struggle had occurred here too. His lamp was smashed on the floor. Flack fell to his knees by the bed and looked underneath it, knowing this was the place Lara would tell him to hide if something should happen.

He quickly found that the space was empty. He slapped the palms of his hands down angrily against the floor and yelled "Damn-it!"

He pushed himself up and immediately pulled out his phone. After just a few rings Mac answered. "Mac, I'm at Lara's. She's missing and something really bad has happened here! She gone, Mac. Lara and Jace are both gone and her baby sitters dead. I think her ex finally caught up with her." he said, panic dripping from every word.

~0~0~0~0~

_**2 hours later, somewhere in Westchester. **_

Lara was pacing back and forth in the bedroom that she had woken up in. Her head throbbed and ached like hell, it was only made worse by her worry over Jace. Luckily the wound on her head had stopped bleeding but her face was now covered in dried blood. She had caught a quick glimpse of herself in a mirror that was hanging on the wall in the bedroom. To say she looked a mess would have been an understatement.

Her hair was matted with blood, her t-shirt stained with it. Her face seemed one big bloodied bruise and her entire body ached. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get her body to stop shaking. It made her feel unsteady on her legs but she was too restless to sit down.

All she could think about was Jace. She prayed he was okay, prayed he wasn't hurt or too scared by what was going on. She hoped to God he was here, _wherever here was_. She doubted Cal would split them up. He'd want them both somewhere safe where he could keep his eye on them both. She wondered where about in this house he was.

She had tried banging on the bedroom door until her hands felt too bruised to carry on. She had screamed at the top of her lungs until her voice had started to go on her. She wanted answers to her worries. _She needed to know Jace was okay._

She had tried to convince herself that Cal wouldn't hurt Jace. Her, yes - in a heartbeat, but his son… no. At least that's what she hoped, _but he had done in the past._ The more she thought about it the more sick she felt. She froze mid thought when she heard the locks in the door turn and then it opened. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched Cal walk into the room.

She pushed her fear aside and stormed over to him. He had the door shut behind him by the time she stepped in front of him. "Where's Jace! Where's my son, Cal!" she yelled at him, despite her throats protests of pain.

Cal placed his hands on her hips and stepped right up to her. She pulled away from him and took a step back, desperate for some space between them. "Cal, please! Tell me where Jace is?" she begged, unable to shout as loud as she wanted to because her throat felt so raw.

"He's fine." Cal told her, closing the gap between them and placing his hand on her cheek. She tried to take another step back but her ass hit the cupboard behind her. _She was going nowhere._ Cal took another step forward so their bodies were touching and once more reached up and touched her face.

She snapped her head to the side, away from his touch. She couldn't stop the look of disgust that formed on her face.

"Let me see Jace." she said when she was able to turn to face him again.

"Stop worrying about him." Cal told her, his voice eerily calm and steady.

"Cal, let me see him!" she said, her voice raspy.

"I'll let you see him as soon as you say hello to me properly."

Lara just looked at him. She wasn't totally sure what he meant until he placed two of his fingers on his lips. "I can't remember the last time you kissed me properly." he said to her.

Kissing him was the last thing she wanted to do, but she wanted to see Jace. She needed to know he was okay. She swallowed into a dry throat and stretched up on her tip toes, inching her face closer to his, until their lips touched. Revulsion flooded through her body the second they did and she pulled away and couldn't hold in the sound of her disgust.

Thinking of Jace and having to know he was okay she swallowed once more and silenced her revulsion and moved to kiss him again. Her lips touched his and she tried to put some energy behind the kiss but her body refused to co-operate.

Cal's whole hand came up to grab her face before he threw her to the floor with a hard shove. She yelped as she landed awkwardly on her wrist, badly twisting it.

"You bitch!" he spat at her.

He grabbed her hair and pulled her up onto her knees. He let go of her hair only to deliver a hard punch to her face. She fell flat to the floor and immediately brought her hand up to her face. The blow had hit her just below her left eye, not only had it created what would make one hell of an angry bruise, but it had also left behind a nasty gash. Her eye was watering so bad it clouded her vision.

"I can see you need a little longer to come to your senses. I'll come back in a few hours and then maybe you will be ready to say hello properly and maybe _then_ I'll tell you how _our_ son is."

She tried to push herself up as quickly as she could. She tried to catch up to him and grab him, tried to stop him, but he was too quick and had stepped out of the room before she could stop him. She fell against the door, unable to hold in her tears.

"Cal! Cal please, I'm sorry!" she said slapping her hand against the door, "Cal, please, I'll do whatever you want just let me see Jace!" she screamed, surprised her raw throat allowed it.

She got no reply and exhausted and broken she could only slump to the floor by the door. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her knees as she cried. Wrapping her arms around her legs she wished she could be anywhere but here, with Jace in her arms where she knew he was safe.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it, please review and let me know what you thought.**

**Hands up if you think Cal's a great guy! NOT!**

**This story is about to get a whole lot darker so if you're not into that sort of thing then please stop reading now.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry this has taken a while to update. Just a warning, this chapter is pretty dark and contains scenes that may be upsetting for some.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Well not if you've seen them on CSI: NY.**

**Chapter 10**

_Flack couldn't pull his eyes away from the pool of blood that stained the carpet. The team had arrived at Lara's apartment and were well underway processing it, gathering evidence that he hoped would lead them right to Lara. They seemed to be moving around him in slow motion, in silence. He rubbed his hands over his face and swallowed into a dry throat. _

_He turned to face Mac who was speaking to him, but he had no idea what he had been saying. All he could concentrate on was the blood that demanded his constant attention. He prayed that it didn't belong to Lara or Jace. The thought of them being hurt made him double over as nausea rolled heavily over him. He felt sure he was going to throw up and threw his hand over his mouth should it happen._

_Mac placed his hands on Flacks shoulders and pushed him back up, propping him against the wall behind them. "Breathe, Don." he told him._

_Flack inhaled but the breath broke out of his mouth and in a shaky voice he said, "What if that bloods hers, or what if it belongs to Jace! Mac, that's a lot of blood. If they're hurt that bad..!"_

"_Flack, you can't think like that." Jo told him. She too was standing by his side as she and Mac tried to find out what had happened._

_He wanted to believe Jo, he really did. He hated to think Lara or Jace were hurt, but his head told him to be realistic. He glanced around at his friends who seemed to be finding evidence everywhere but he was too confused to ask what it was they were finding. He couldn't believe himself, he'd watched them process hundreds of scenes and was never bothered by it, but watching them here made him want to crumble to the floor and bury his face in his hands._

"_Flack, when you pulled up here, did you see any other cars?" Mac asked._

_Flack shook his head and spoke the word "No" so quietly it was almost unheard by Jo and Mac._

"_We've got officers talking to all the neighbours as we speak. We're gonna know if they heard or saw anything." Jo told him, hoping the news would comfort him somehow._

_Her words did nothing to comfort him and in a fit of anger Flack slammed his head back against the wall behind him and growled in frustration. "Damn-it, I told her I would protect her! I begged her to stay when she tried to run and I told her I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her or Jace."_

"_This isn't your fault!" Jo tried to tell him. She knew what his words had been because she'd been there with him at the train station that day._

"_That blood is Lara's," he said knowingly as he pointed to the stain on the floor. _

"_We don't know that until we run tests." Mac tried to tell him. _

"_Mac, you saw the long dark hair that Lindsay pulled out of the blood and from the blood on the corner of the unit just above it. I've done this enough times to know that blood has come from a head injury which is why there are head hairs in it, hers, Mac!" Flack roared angrily._

"_You've also seen enough head injuries to know that head wounds bleed a lot, but it doesn't necessarily mean there's extensive damage been done…"_

"_She told me what this son-of-a-bitch has done to her in the past, extensive damage is all he knows!" Flack yelled. _

_Jo was thinking the exact same thing if she was honest. She was more worried for Lara's safety than she was letting on. She knew Lara had good reason to be scared of Cal and knew if he had found her that her fears would no doubt be coming reality._

"_We just have to pray that she isn't hurt too bad, or at all hopefully. Even if Cal has her and Jace, I don't think he would hurt Jace." Jo said._

"_You saw the smashed lamp in his room, something happened in there. I swear to God if Cal hurts them…!" Flack said, his anger boiling over. _

"_We won't know if Cal has them for sure until we…." But Mac was cut off as an officer came up to him and whispered something in his ear. _

_Mac thanked the officer and the three of them watched the young officer walk off. "Mac, what he say?" Flack asked. _

_Mac hesitated before he replied, "A neighbour downstairs said they saw two men drag Jace and Lara out of here. Jace was struggling….but Lara was…" he couldn't use the words the officer had said, no doubt the exact words of their witness, so he decided upon"…Unconscious"_

_Flack knew those weren't the words the officer used. He slumped back against the wall behind him and let himself slide down it as his legs buckled beneath him. He landed on his ass on the floor and balled his fists up and rested them on his knees. Jo and Mac had crouched down to his level. _

"_It's been hours Mac. He could be anywhere with her by now." Flack said knowingly. "He could have already killed them..."  
_

Flack opened his eyes and pushed his thoughts out of his head. He had spent the last few hours going over and over that scene in his head. They had long finished up at Lara's apartment and the bloods had been tested, the fingerprints traced. As Flack knew it would the blood belonged to Lara and the finger prints around the place were Cal's.

He slumped forward on the bench he was sitting on, the bench between the lockers in the dark men's locker room. It was peaceful in here, it gave him time to just think. Unable to take it any longer he stood up and reached into his locker and pulled out a clean shirt.

Without saying a word he took off his old, wrinkled shirt and stuffed it into his locker. He looked down at the scar on his chest and closed his eyes. When he did he could see Lara lying next to him in bed, could feel her soft fingers gently stroking his scar. _He could feel her soft lips against his._

Angry and frightened he balled his fists up and threw his arms out. His hands smashed into the locker doors, over and over again in an act so wild and angry it sounded like that of a violent thunder storm. It was only when he could no longer feel his hands because of the numbing pain that he stomped.

He dropped his hands to the floor and pressed his hot forehead against the cold locker doors that were now dented from his attack. He stood this way in silence, the only sound in the room was that of the blood dripping down to the tips of his fingers and off onto the floor. _Alone, and broken all he had left to do was cry._

~0~0~0~0~

Lara had pacing again for hours. As she did so she searched every inch of the room around her. She was desperate for something, anything that might lead to freedom, not that she would be going anywhere without Jace.

She walked over to the boarded up window and looked out through the tiny gap between two of the pieces of wood. She could see that below the window was a porch roof. It looked slightly weathered and she could see some of the slates were missing. This was then tenth or more time she ahd done this, each time she hoped she would see something else through the gap, help that was on its way to her, but each time all she saw was the old, battered porch roof.

She now studied the planks of wood that had been used to board the window up. _This was the first time she had really done this. _She brushed her thumb over one of the screws that had been drilled into the wood. She suddenly saw that it had been a rather shoddily done job. The screws hadn't even been screwed in tightly. She began picking at the wood around one of the screw heads. She was happy to see the wood picked away quite easily. At this rate it would take her forever to break out but it was worth a shot.

"Fuck!" she suddenly cursed as a sharp pain shot underneath her thumb nail.

She muttered some more choice words before studying her bleeding thumb. She felt slightly sickened as she plucked out a large splinter off wood from under her nail and brought her thumb up to her lips. The taste of her own blood made her quickly pull it away. She decided a splinter was nothing if it meant freedom for her and Jace. She took a step forward to continue with the likely painful task of picking away at the wood until she could remove the screw.

She quickly jumped back away from the window and pulled the curtains over it as she heard the locks in the door turning. She quickly wiped the excess blood on her thumb off onto her jeans and sat down on the edge of the bed, trying to look innocent.

Upon seeing Cal walk into the room she stood up and took a step away from the bed. He closed the door behind him and leant against it. His cold eyes found and locked on her. Part of her wondered if he had known she had been picking at the wood. He didn't say a word if he did know, he just stood there, silent as he stared at her.

In the end she had to speak, had to break the silence. "Is Jace okay?" she asked quietly, hoping her question wouldn't piss him off.

"He's fine." he told her, his voice cold, "He's playing on his new computer."

Lara just half smiled. She knew he would be scared right now but hoped that a new computer would help distract him. "Can I see him, please?" she asked.

Cal pushed away from the door and slowly walked over to her, his eyes never left hers. He was like a lion, moving in for the kill, and she was his prey. She wanted to step back, put the space back between them, but she daren't move.

Two more steps forward and he was standing directly in front of her, his muscular body towering over her. She couldn't help but flinch as his hand came up to her face. She knew it was a mistake the second she had done it but it was instinctive.

Annoyed, Cal slammed his body into hers, forcing her backwards till her back hit the wall behind her. She tried desperately not to flinch as he brought his hand up to her face again. She was slightly relieved when he simply brushed his knuckles over her bruised face.

Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest and she was sure he would be able to hear it, he was standing so close. She moved her eyes up to look at him but then quickly looked back down, unable to bring herself to look him square in the eye.

'_Don't be a coward, look him in the eyes!' _she silently spat at herself.

She took a deep and shaky breath and looked up at Cal. Her eyes caught hold of his to find he was glaring back at her. She decided the only way she was going to be allowed to see Jace was to suck up to him. She forced a smile, like she was happy to see him, and didn't mind how close he was to her. She then reached up with a shaking hand and held Cal's face. She closed her eyes and stood up onto her tiptoes and met his lips with her own.

She was able to kiss him like she meant it this time, doing so by convincing herself it was someone else she was kissing, someone who was gentle and who offered back loving kisses, and not ones like she was forced to endure now from Cal.

His lips were hard against hers. His kisses were greedy and he nipped at her bottom lip like it was something she liked before he forced his tongue roughly into her mouth. His hands cupped her face much harder than necessary and she couldn't stop the yelp of pain that was muffled by his mouth.

She had hoped he may have thought the sound was one of pleasure but he stopped his kiss abruptly and rested his forehead against hers and then sighed heavily. He was pissed off, she knew it. She wanted to kick herself for not being tougher as he pulled away from her. His dark eyes found hers again and despite knowing her kiss had done little to please him she plucked up the courage and asked. "Now can I see Jace, please?"

Cal just continued looking into her eyes, not saying a word, not moving even a fraction of an inch. She suddenly drew her eyes away from his, no longer having the balls to look him in the eye, it was something that made her hate herself a little bit more. For not being braver and having the guts to just look him in the eyes and not be the first one to turn away. She whimpered as his hand came up to her face, pinching it in a tight grip, the palm of his hand lay across her mouth.

"It's been a year Lara. In which time you've been fucking someone else. For all I know you could have been fucking whatever man crossed your path!" he growled at her.

She could only try to shake her head. Her words were too muffled under his hand for him to understand but she still protested, "No. I haven't Cal."

"I know you've been screwing your boss!" he spat at her, if possible pinching her face harder. "I had someone watching you. Watching him come and go as he pleased. You're such a fucking slut! It's been a year Lara! A year in which I didn't see my son once!" he roared angrily at her, "After all that, you really think a pathetic little kiss like that will make up for it. You're gonna know what it's like to be separated from the ones you love."

Lara didn't like the look she saw suddenly flicker in his eyes, she'd seen it before and she knew it only meant one thing. He pulled his hand from off of her face and quickly grabbed hold of the top of her arms. She tried to swat his hands away as he pulled her away from the wall and threw her down on the bed.

She quickly tried to push herself up but the whole of Cal's forearm connected with her face and knocked her back down. The pain was sickening and her eyes watered too much for her to see him climb onto the bed.

The second she felt his crushing weight on top of her she kicked out and flung her arms at him. "Get off of me!" she screamed, "Cal, get off!"

Her screams did nothing to unsettle him and he grabbed her wrists and stood up only so he could flip her over. He pulled her hands together behind her back and held them together in one hand as he pulled his belt off. Lara felt him wrap something around her wrists, not knowing it was his leather belt. He flipped her back over, so that she was now forced to lie on her arms, something that in a few minutes would begin causing her excruciating pain.

She felt Cal pull roughly tugging at her jeans as he unclipped the button. There was nothing she could do to stop him, but she still tired begging.

"Cal, please, no! Don't do this!" she begged but he either didn't seem to hear her or simply ignored her.

He grabbed hold of her t-shirt and easily ripped it open. She couldn't stop the tears that burnt her eyes from falling. She tried to squirm free from under him but this evidently only excited him more. She could feel his body, ready and rock hard against her thigh. He grabbed hold of her jeans and tugged them down.

"Cal, get off me!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs, trying to demand it but her voice was too weak and shaky.

"I will, when I'm done." he spat at her.

She heard him unzip his own trousers. His weight lifted off her but one hand pressing down on her chest kept her fixed to the bed as his other hand was used to push his trousers and boxers down. "Cal, please don't do this!" she cried as she felt him shift his weight on top of her. It repulsed her to feel his body against her.

His fingers dug into her thighs and he ripped her legs apart and with a hard thrust he was inside her. The pain silenced her for a second and his second even harder thrust only added to her silence. His third thrust seemed to make her voice burst out of her throat. "Cal, stop!" she begged but she knew there was no stopping him.

His body crushed hers as he continued his assault on her body, panting like a dog above her. She closed her eyes tight and prayed for it to be over with quickly. As his thrusts quickened she knew he was coming to a climax. She could do nothing but cry as she felt him spill into her. It was the most sickened she had ever felt in her life. _What was worst was that she knew he was nowhere near done yet._

His pace slowed for a moment but he didn't pull out of her body. There was nothing she could do but lie there as he began moving quicker again. The fact that Cal had stamina in the bedroom had once been something she had loved about him, he could go for hours and even though she would sometimes struggle to keep up with him she had once adored every moment of it. She had later come to realise it was nothing to be loved. It was in fact a curse that she was forced to endure. Cal would only ever stop when _he_ was done.

He roughly yanked her leg up by his side so he could push harder and deeper into her. He nuzzled his face into her neck as he moaned in pleasure. "I've got a year to make up for." he whispered into her ear before he roughly kissed her neck and quickened his pace again.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. **

**Please review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to everyone reading and thanks for the reviews. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 11**

Lara had lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling for what felt to her like an eternity. There was nothing of interest on the ceiling, it was plain, its white paint now faded to a dull greyish colour. However, concentrating on the ceiling meant her mind wasn't forced to relive the hours of abuse Cal had inflicted on her.

His attack had seemed to have gone on forever, in the end she had given up begging and pleading with him to stop because it just made him more violent and more determined to carry on longer. He was eventually only satisfied when he had spent enough time reminding her that her body was for his pleasure only, this had meant she had endured hours of rape. Cal hadn't even attempted to be gentle, she wasn't sure he was in fact able to be gentle about anything, but he seemed to have found great joy in going above and beyond making her suffer much more than necessary.

She had half expected him to climb back on top of her and continue to assault her when he had pushed himself off her after what she was sure had been hours of endless rape and beatings. So she had sighed with relief when he had pulled his jeans back on and made his way out of the room without even saying a word to her.

Upon him doing this all she had been able to do was cry. She had cried herself to sleep, or perhaps it was pain alone that had made her pass out. At some point during her been asleep or unconscious someone had come in and removed the belt from around her wrists and thrown a blanket over her naked and beaten bloodied body.

_This was the state she had woken up in_. The thin blanket offered her cold shivering body no warmth and her arms and shoulders were so stiff it hurt to move them. Her wrists were red raw and bleeding in parts from where she had desperately tried to free herself from the belt.

Finally she could take lying on the bed no more. It made her sick just to think about remaining there, the place where she had been so violently assaulted. She closed her eyes and felt her tears spill from her eyes as she tried not to think about the pain moving would cause her body.

Slowly, _very slowly,_ she pushed herself up into a sitting position, every inch of her body protested but it still obeyed. She dangled her legs over the side of the bed, feeling nauseous from the feeling it caused between her legs.

She glanced down at her thighs and saw the blood that stained them. She grabbed the blanket from behind her and desperately tried to wipe the blood away. The thick of it came away easily but some of it just seemed to stain her skin. It knocked her sick to see it and served as a harsh reminder of how violent Cal had been.

She managed to swallow her sobs and took in a deep breath. She glanced around her and noticed a button up shirt and a pair of slacks at the end of the bed. She winced as she reached across the bed and grabbed them. Clearly they were women's clothing. She knew they would be too big for her but she presumed they had been put there for her to use. Her own shirt would be useless as Cal had shredded it, but she reached down and grabbed her panties, them she could use. Cal had torn her bra off her so it too was as useless as her shirt.

She put the lilac button up shirt on and with shaking hands did up the buttons. It took her a good while to do so but she managed despite her hands shaking so badly. Next she pulled her panties on. She pulled them halfway up her legs, trying not to look at the dried blood coated on her thighs. She knew she had no choice but to stand up now to finish getting changed but she dreaded the thought of doing so and the pain it would cause.

Still moving slowly she pushed herself up of the bed. The pain was sickening but it was a relief to be able to pull her underwear on, she felt so less exposed. As quickly as she could she pulled the slacks on, her eyes glancing over the finger-print bruises and nail marks that covered her thighs.

She had just tied the cord tight on the slacks when she heard locks turning in the door. She closed her eyes and silently prayed to anyone listening it wasn't Cal returning for another round of abusing her. She forced her eyes open and looked up and saw a woman walk into her room carrying a tray of food and some folded linen. She put it down and without saying a word to Lara turned and shut the door which could then be heard being locked.

Lara watched as the woman walked over to the bed and pulled off the blood and semen stained blankets and sheets. Lara was more than happy to see the back of them. She glanced over at the tray of food and wondered if this woman was taking food to Jace as well as her.

She had to find out. "Do you take food to my son?" she asked the older, mousy blond haired woman.

She got no reply and continued to watch the woman who worked in silence. Minutes seemed to fly by. The woman began remaking the bed in silence. Lara wondered why she was bothering. She certainly wasn't going to get into the damn thing willingly. She'd rather sleep on the floor. She decided to try a new tactic and moved over to the bed and began helping the woman, ignoring the pain it caused her body.

The woman glanced up at her, shocked by the help, but Lara didn't seem to notice this and just carried on working with her. "Your son is a sweet boy." the woman said to her after a moment.

Lara immediately stopped working and looked up at her. "Is he okay?" she asked, praying the woman would answer her.

The woman nodded, "He really likes when I take him peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches." she told Lara.

Lara burst into tears of relief. She quickly wiped her eyes and looked up at the woman. "Is he hurt? Has Cal hurt him?" she asked.

The woman looked over at the door, as if checking no one was coming through it. She then turned to look at Lara. "He's fine." she told her, "Cal got him some new computer thing and he just plays on that."

Lara just nodded, relieved he was okay. She'd been so worry Cal would have hurt him because of how angry he was with her. She didn't doubt Cal would hurt him somehow just to get back at her, then he could blame it on her.

"He asks me about you." The woman said to her bringing her out of her thoughts. "I told him that you were okay, that he'd see you soon if he was good."

Lara found herself moving around the bed to be next to the woman who seemed to shrink back as she approached. "Please, please you have to help me get him out of here!" Lara begged her, keeping her voice in a whisper.

The woman stepped around her and moved towards the door. Lara tried to chase after her but the pain between her legs shot through her like a knife and her legs buckled. The woman turned around in time to catch her. She helped Lara sit down on the bed and moved towards the door again.

Lara quickly pushed herself up and stepped over to the woman who seemed to be lingering by the door. "Please," Lara begged her, forcing her body to stay upright and not buckle from the pain again. "You said yourself, he's a sweet kid. I'm telling you if he stays here Cal will hurt him. Please help me get him out of here!"

The woman turned to face her and Lara saw the pain etched on her face. "I can't!" the woman told her, she too whispering, not willing to risk being heard. "You're not the only one who'll end up with a fist in the face if I tried to get you out of here, my husband is just as bad as Cal." she snapped before turning to leave.

Lara grabbed her and forced her to look at her. "A fist to the face I can take! I can take being raped in every sick way Cal can think of for hours on end too. I can even take it when he beats me until I can't move, but I can't take the thought of him hurting my little boy, and I'm praying you won't want that to happen either."

The woman looked at Lara and she could see the desperation on her face. "There's nothing I can do for you…"

"Call the police, ask for Don Flack or Jo Danville from the New York crime la…"

The woman suddenly pushed Lara away from her and moved over to the bed to pretend like she was adding the finishing touches to making it. Lara was confused by her actions until she saw the bedroom door open. She felt her heart skip a beat as Cal walked in. He froze by the door and glared at her before he turned to face the woman.

"Get out Rita. Lara can finish that."

Rita, as Lara now knew her, scurried over to the door and ducked out without even glancing at Lara. The room was silent as Cal continued to glare at Lara. She dreaded to think what plans he had for her next.

"Making friends?" he asked her.

"She wouldn't speak to me." Lara lied, "I was hoping she would tell me how Jace is."

The back of Cal's hand suddenly whipped hard across her face, seemingly coming from out of nowhere. It hurt like hell but more than anything it made her angry. She reached up and placed the cold palm of her hand against her burning cheek and blinked away tears.

"Don't try talking to her again, or I'll slap her about as well as you, you get that? Your actions have consequences Lara, remember that!" he growled at her, his pointed finger right in her face.

She had no idea why he was in here but she guessed it wasn't for a friendly chat. Either way she was going to beg him to let her see Jace, even though she knew it would probably earn her another slap or two…._or three._

**~0~0~0~0~**

Mac was sat behind his desk, lost in a million thoughts. He looked up when he heard a knock on his door to find Jo standing in the doorway.

"You wanna go grab a coffee?" she asked, knowing he, like her, had been working on finding Lara all night.

Mac just nodded, he needed a break and a very strong coffee because he was now running on fumes.

**~0~0~**

They had left the crime lab and gone across the street to a little quiet coffee shop. They were sat next to one another in a booth in the back, both looking as glum as the other.

"I can't believe we still have no leads." Jo said as she cradled her burning hot mug of tea in her hands.

Mac peeled her hand away from it knowing it would soon risk really burning her hand. He kept tight hold of her hand in his as he said, "It doesn't mean we're not going to get one. We'll get her back, Jo, and Jace as well."

"Mac, Callahan is obsessed with her. She's been on the run from him for years. Every time he finds her he beats the hell outta her and worse. She's been with him for over twenty four hours, it don't take a genius to work out what the son-uva-bitch will have done to her." Jo said.

"She's tough, Jo."

"She shouldn't have to be so tough, Mac. She's practically still a baby for Christ's sake. She got married too young to a monster and is still having to pay for it." she said sadly.

"When we find her we'll find him and this time we'll make sure he can't hurt her or Jace again."

"And if we don't find them?" Jo asked.

"We don't have a choice. We have to find them, not just for their sake, but for Don's too." Mac said.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Flack slammed the phone down on his desk, another wasted ten minutes from a member of the public who was just pissing about. "That prick has no idea where she is, it was just another hoax!" he yelled to everyone.

"I wish just one of these leads would give us even the slightest clue." Danny said as he leant against the desk adjacent to Flack's.

"I don't get how people can think it's fun to waste our time! Don't they realise that wasting our time just gives that _fuck_ more time to hurt Lara and Jace?"

"Come on, buddy, let's go take a break." Danny suggested seeing the more frustrated his friend was becoming by the second.

"No there isn't time." Flack snapped.

"If you ask me there is no case here." A greasy long-haired male Detective suddenly said from the desk opposite Flacks.

"Yeah, well no one asked you, did they?" Danny spat back at him.

Flack stood upright behind his desk and looked at the guy in disbelief. "The son-of-a-bitch has abducted her and her son from her home! Did you not read the part of the report that mentions the blood, her blood that was on the floor in her home?"

"All I'm saying is if she's his wife and she did a runner with his kid he has every right to be pissed off at her. You telling me you wouldn't have beef with the bitch who took off with your kid?"

Danny couldn't move quick enough to stop Flack who ran at the Detective and lunged at him. The '_smack'_ of the punch he delivered echoed around the bullpen and the '_bang' _from where he pinned the Detective down against a desk bounced off the walls.

Flack was suddenly surrounded by other Detectives in the bullpen all trying to pull him off the mouthy Detective.

"You have no fucking clue why she was running from that prick!" Flack roared at him.

"She took his kid, Flack!"

"She took him to protect him!" Flack growled angrily at him as he continued to pin him to the desk, despite the three men trying to pull him off him, one of them was Danny.

"Flack, let him go!" Danny pleaded in vain. "DON!" he yelled, finally getting his friends attention. "He's not worth it! You need to focus your energy on finding Lara and Jace, not putting this piece of crap in his place!"

Flack knew he was right and after a moment pushed himself away from the Detective. He stepped back from him and slowly turned to look around at everyone who was watching. "ANYONE ELSE GOT ANY MORE STUPID COMMENTS THEY WANNA MAKE!" he yelled to everyone, "OR ARE YOU GONNA HELP ME FIND ONE OF OUR OWN WHO NEEDS OUR HELP!"

Everyone quickly got back to work, much to his relief. Danny stepped up to Flack and slapped his hand on his shoulder. "Come on," he told him, "You're taking a break. The fresh air will help you." he said as he grabbed his shirt and began pulling him behind him towards the main door, not taking_ "no"_ for an answer this time.

Knowing he was right Flack never put up any protest and simply went with him.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Cal had only come in to see Lara to '_thank'_ her for his good night, something that knocked her sick, and to leave her with a black eye after she had asked him about seeing Jace again. _"When I'm ready to let you see him you'll see him." _he had told her.

_God she hated him!_

The moment he had left, and she had recovered from being punched in the face, she had walked over to the window. She had pushed the curtain aside and began picking at the wood around one of the screws. She decided if she could just pick one free she could use it to pick away at the wood around the others.

She had been on her own for over hours and had spent the whole time picking away. The task was dramatically slowed down by the fact that the tip of her thumb was now bleeding and full of splinters. She yelped as another huge splinter buried itself under her nail.

She could just about make it out through the blood and quickly plucked it out, along with a couple more she could see. She wanted to leave her thumb alone and pick at it with her other thumb or her fingers but she knew they would end up as damaged as her thumb and if Cal saw them he would know that she was up to something. _She couldn't risk it._ _This was her only shot at freedom._

She had loosened the first screw and it was almost ready to be pulled out. She continued picking away at the wood, ignoring the pain and concentrating on getting Jace away from here and somewhere safe.

She quickly stopped what she was doing when she heard locks in the door begin to turn. She pulled the curtain across them jumped back away from the window and tucked her hand into her behind her back just as Cal walked in.

He walked slowly over to her and she had to really force herself not to step back away from him. She was sure he was going to hit her again but instead his hand came up to rest on the nape of her neck as his lips crashed down on hers. _Please no!_ She couldn't stand the thought that this could be because he wanted more sex.

He stepped back from her and his arms came to wrap around her slim waste. "I'm sorry." he said to her surprise, flashing his best puppy dog eyes at her.

Her head was too baffled to decide whether to play pissed off at him or pretend she was going to forgive him or whether she shouldn't play along either way. She realised that at least when he would say he was sorry like this he would be nice to her for a while, even if it only last a day. _Play along_ she decided.

She reached up and touched his face. "I'm sorry too." she told him.

Cal pulled her body against his with his right arm. His left arm brought his hand up to rest on hers against his face. He nuzzled his face against her hand and said, "I wish you knew how madly in love with you I am. You know what the thought of not being with you does to me. It's your fault I act this way, baby."

"I know." she said, "I'm really, really sorry, Cal."

"I hate to have to hurt you, Lara, but sometime you just give me no choice." he said to her as he sat down on the bed and looked up at her, holding her hand in his.

"I know it's all my fault." she said, tears threatening to fall.

"I just wanna be with you." he said as he pulled her down next to him on the bed.

He continued to look her in the eyes then suddenly moved to unbuckle his belt. She tried to pull away as he took off his belt, however he quickly caught hold of her wrist and stopped her from getting up off the bed, "Easy, baby. I just wanna fall asleep with you in my arms for a while, but I can't trust you yet, Lara."

She did nothing as he wrapped the belt tightly around her wrists again. She kept her thumb tucked under her fingers so he wouldn't see the damage she had caused to it. Once she was bound she watched as he pushed the quilt aside. He lay down and pulled her down against his body. He fixed the quilt over them both and snuggled right up to her.

She lay on her side as he lay behind her, his body curled against hers. He draped his arm over her, holding her tight against him. He kissed her neck, slowly, sucking and nipping on it. She prayed he would stop before he turned himself on and decided he did want sex after all. To her relief he stopped and lay back down.

His arm still rested over hers and he softly stroked her arm with his thumb. They lay there in deafening silence for a moment and she wondered if he had actually fallen asleep. Then she heard him speak, felt his breath warm on the back of her neck.

"If I can't have you Lara, you and Jace, then no one can. I'd rather we were all dead than lose you both again." he said her and she didn't doubt for a second that his words were just a threat, they were a promise.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. **

**Please review and let me know what you think. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks for the reviews and thanks to everyone who is reading. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Smiley90. Thank you so much for such great and encouraging reviews. They'll be missed.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY**

**Chapter 12**

Lara was at work picking at the wood that was screwed down over the windows. She now had a screw that she had picked free that she was using to pick at the wood. This saved her from deep and painful splinters – she was sure she'd be picking them from her flesh for months to come.

The moment Cal had woke up from their 'nap' she had gotten to work - after having pretended to still be asleep until she heard him leave the room, locking the door behind him. She was praying Cal was on the turn around, that he was going to go out of his way to be nice to her like he usually did after he'd been a truly evil prick towards her. However, she knew she couldn't trust him staying that way for long, eventually he would revert back to type so she had to make sure she could still escape somehow as soon as she had the chance.

She managed to work another screw free from the bottom piece of wood. It fell forward but she was able to catch it before it clattered loudly onto the floor. She fixed the screw back into it but only loosely enough that she could quickly and easily rip the plank of wood off. She only did this so that if Cal happened to look he didn't see that she was one step closer to freedom. She needed to remove the plank of wood above this one and it would give her just enough space to crawl through it. _Jace would easily fit through it._

She heard voices outside her door and hid the screw she was using and pulled the curtains together and stepped back. She was sat on the bed looking rather innocent when Cal walked in. Panic washed over her when she saw he wasn't alone.

She stood up and put distance between herself and the bed. A silence fell over them and she was desperate to ask Cal what was going on, but part of her thought that she might not want to know. _What was he planning?_

She watched as Cal leant in close to the guard and whispered something into his ear from behind his hand. _What the hell was he telling him to do?_ she wondered as her heart began to really pound in her chest. _She didn't like this one bit._

Cal stepped away from the guard and turned to look her square in the eye. "Bring her out." he instructed the guard, never taking his eyes off her.

The guard walked over to her and although she quickly tried to move away from him he caught her from behind, pinching the tops of her arms and pinning them down against her body as he pushed her over to the door and then out of the room behind Cal.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Flack was sat at his desk scribbling onto a scrap piece of paper in front of him. He couldn't stop thinking about Lara. He was remembering the first night he had gone over to her apartment and he and Jace had played on the Xbox. They had then ordered pizza and it was watching Lara that night that had made him fall for her.

_He loved everything about her_. He loved her smile and her stunning brown eyes. He loved the way she was with Jace, loved the way she clearly and irrevocably adored the boy. It was obvious she would do anything to keep him safe, keep him happy, and he loved that about her too.

He loved the feel of her soft chocolate coloured hair when he ran his fingers through it. He loved how smooth her skin was under the touch of his hands, his fingertips and his lips. He loved how it felt to kiss her and to hold her in his arms…._he loved her!_

He threw his pen down and thought about how he would tell her how much and just how he loved her when…_and if_ he got her back. He would tell her every minute of the day until she begged him to shut up.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the phone on his desk ringing. "Don Flack," he said miserably as he picked it up and held it to his ear.

At first he heard nothing, he didn't even think anyone was there and he was about to hang up when he was sure he heard something…_breathing maybe? _"Lara, Lara, is that you?" He got no reply, there was just silence, "Lara, please. _God_ if that's you please, please talk to me."

"I know where she is." a voice told him. The voice belonged to a female but it wasn't Lara. The older sounding woman spoke so quietly he could barely hear her.

"Who is this? Do you know where Lara is?" he asked desperately.

It was silent again. "Look, you don't have to tell me who you are but please, I'm begging you, please tell me where she is?" he pleaded, knowing this woman had the answers.

"She….she's with Callahan." The woman told him hesitantly.

"Where? Where does he have her?" he asked. _Again all he got was silence_. "Please, please, tell me where she is! You must care about her if you're telling me this. Do you know where Jace is?" he asked.

"The boy is with her." The woman said.

"_Thank God_! Is he okay?"

"Callahan's keeping them in Westchester." she said before she hung up.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Jace was sat holding the controller of his PS3 in his hands but he couldn't be bothered playing it. He was thinking about his mum. He'd never been away from her for longer than a night in his whole life and he missed her so much it made him feel physically sick. _It had always been the two of them for as long as he could remember._

_He liked it that way._ She wasn't like most mums, she was his friend too. The friends he'd made in his life had always liked his mum because she wasn't like their mums. She would join in and play computers games with them and she usually won too. She was fun to be around even though he knew she was sad. He hated that he was so sad but he knew that with Flack she had been happier.

There was no use denying that he had often wished he could be more like other kids at times. He hated all the moving round and leaving behind and making new friends, but he knew how dangerous his father was and so this was why they had no choice but to run and hide all the time. He had seen the pain he had caused his mum and it scared the hell out of him, _but it also made him angry._ He couldn't wait to be big enough to be able to protect her the way she had always protected him.

As he sat there, longing to see his mum he also thought about Don. He liked Don, _a lot_. He wished he was his father because if he was he and his mums life would be so different. There would be no running in the middle of the night or hiding in the closet or under the bed. There would be no using fake names at times. No beatings to watch or have to listen helplessly too.

He wished there was some way he could call Flack, something, anything just so he could ask him to come find them, to come help. He knew the PS3 consoles had internet but he wasn't set up for it so that form of contact was out.

Even if help did come he had no idea how it would get in or out of this small bedroom he was in. The windows were boarded up and the door was always kept locked.

He suddenly wished the lady who brought him food was around. She was nice and she talked to him, she kept telling him his mum was okay. It made him happy to hear this. It helped his rest a little easier knowing she was here with him…_wherever here was._

In fear he suddenly dropped the controller from his hands as the locks in the door opened nosily and the creaky door was pushed open. He watched as his Cal walked in. He saw him smiling and was thankful because last time he had come in he had looked angry and had yelled a lot.

"Hey Buddy. How you doing?" Cal asked.

Jace just nodded and said, "I'm okay. I wanna see my mum."

"I know you do, and you can." Cal told him.

"When?" Jace asked desperately.

Cal sat down and then patted the empty spot on the bed next to him. "Come speak to me first, and then you can see her."

Jace didn't want to talk to him, _he hated him,_ but if it meant he could see his mum he would do it. Reluctantly he walked over and sat on the bed next to his father.

"You 'know, Jace, no matter what your mom has told you I do love you and her. Your my son and she's my wife, nothing can ever take that away from me….no other man…._no one!"_

Jace just nodded, he wanted to say _'Don could, he's a much better dad than you!'_ but he daren't.

"Your mom was wrong to keep you away from me, Jace. A boy needs his father around. There is so much stuff I wanna show you, so much I need to teach you." Cal told him with a smile.

Jace forced a smile but it lasted only a second before he turned and stared at the floor.

"Your mom knows now that we all have to stay together from now on. So we're gonna live out here for a while, then maybe we can go get a place up in the mountains, just the three of us." Cal said.

"What about school? What's about Mom's job?" Jace asked.

"Your mom doesn't need to work. Her job is going to be to take care of our house and I was thinking maybe you should have a brother and a sister. We could be a real family, Jace. And you won't need school because I'll teach you everything I know. I can teach you so much that you will never learn in school."

"I like school." Jace said, his voice not much more than a whisper.

"Well you won't be going!" Cal snapped.

Jace just nodded fearfully, terrified to make eye contact with Cal. _He hated this plan._ He didn't want to live in the mountains and never go to school. He didn't want a brother or a sister, well not it Cal was the dad. He wanted his mom to have a baby with Flack, that way Flack would have to live with them. He wanted_ them_ to be a real family.

He turned and looked up at Cal, "Can I see mom now?" he asked.

"You like my plan? I can teach you how to fish and how to hunt up in the mountains. What do you think?" Cal asked energetically.

Jace faked the same sort of energy and said, "Yeah, that sounds good."

"That's my boy." Cal said as he threw his arm around Jace and pulled him into a hard hug.

Jace wanted to desperately crawl out of the somewhat painful hug, but out of fear he remained perfectly still until he heard Cal shout, "Bring her in!"

He pushed away from Cal and stood up as the door opened again. He saw his mom and prayed he wasn't seeing things.

"Jace!" Lara called out the moment she saw her son.

He knew he wasn't seeing things upon hearing her voice, "MOM!" he cried out and ran over to her.

Lara fell to her knees and held her arms open. Jace ran straight into them and flung his arms around her, tight. She wrapped hers around him and held him tight but not enough to hurt him. She couldn't hold her tears in and they began to trail down her cheeks.

She sniffled and forced them back and pushed Jace back a little so she could check him over, keeping hold of his arms, terrified to let go of him. _Thankfully _she saw that he didn't have a mark on him that she could see so it meant Cal hadn't hurt him._ Thank God._ It was obvious that he was scanning her face, taking in all the injuries, his eyes fell down to her wrists and he saw the bruises and cuts that marked them.

"I'm fine, baby. This is nothing." She tried to convince him.

Jace turned to face Cal and Lara could tell that her son was angry from the shallow breaths he was suddenly taking and the way his cheeks were burning red. She didn't however expect him to rip free form her hold and run at Cal.

Neither did Cal apparently as he didn't even try to dodge the hard and swift kick that Jace gave him in the shin. Cal doubled over to hold his leg and Jace used the opportunity to slam a small fist into his father's face.

"Jace, no!" Lara cried out. She pushed herself up as quickly as she could from the floor and tried to run to him - _to stop him _- but the guard caught her from behind again in the same hold as before.

She could only struggle to free herself and watch and beg Jace to stop as he threw tiny fist after tiny fist at Cal. She knew his punches wouldn't really hurt Cal but they would without a doubt piss him off big time. She suddenly saw Cal ball his hand into a fist and screamed as loud as she could, "Cal, no, don't! Jace, run!"

It was no good and the sickening crunch of Cal's fist against Jaces' face made her heave. She quickly ripped one arm free of the guard's painful grasp and slammed her elbow up into his face, busting his nose which erupted with bright red blood. Cal was too busy swinging his fist down at Jace who was on his hands and knees on the floor to notice her lunge herself at him.

Her whole body crashed into him at full force before he had chance to hit Jace again. They were both sent crashing to the floor. She was enraged, the sound of Cal hitting Jace was echoing around her head and with a new found strength she swung her fist as hard as she could at Cal's face.

He was pinned beneath her as she straddled him, throwing punch after punch into his face. This was motherly instinct to protect her child at its rawest form and she was ready to kill Cal if it meant he couldn't hurt Jace again.

"Get this bitch off me!" Cal roared.

Lara turned to look over her shoulder where Cal was looking. Her eyes never met what, or rather who, Cal was looking at as something hard crashed down against her head and everything went black.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry this has taken so long to update. I hope this chapter was worth the wait.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**Chapter 13**

Everyone seemed to be running around the squad-room in a sort of organised chaos. Arranging different things in an attempt to work out where about in Westchester Lara and Jace could be. The CSI's where all in there too as they were trying to help out in any way they could.

It was Adam who suddenly shouted up, getting everyone's attention. "I got something!" he yelled from behind the computer he was sat at.

"Adam, what is it?!" Jo asked as she and the others all walked over and huddled around him.

"Call me paranoid if you will but the prison guard always bothered me. It seemed too odd that he was with Cal when he escaped but he wasn't killed in the escape, or even if Cal did take him as a hostage that his body has never turned up since… so I figured he was some sort of accomplice."

"The guy was a decorated prison guard." Lindsay reminded him.

"Maybe he was Linds, but look where the guy has a house," Adam said, pointing out the very thing he had found on the computer after hours of researching. "Westchester, in the middle of nowhere, it's the perfect place to hide."

"Or hide someone else." Hawkes pointed out.

"Get me a number for that address." Flack ordered.

Adam did just as he was told. He jotted the number down and passed the slip of paper to Flack who grabbed a phone and dialled in the number. It rang a few times then went to answer machine. _**"We're not home. Leave your name and number and we'll get back to you."**_ The recorded voice on the machine said. Flack felt sick the second he heard the familiar voice, he recognised it from the woman who had called him to leave them the tip.

"That's her, the same woman who rang in the tip. She's gotta be the guards wife." Flack said, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

"Why would she tell you where they are then, she has to know that would get her, the husband and Cal into trouble?" Jo said.

"Maybe she is actually a decent human being." Danny thought out loud, "Perhaps she felt guilty seeing whatever hell Cal is putting Lara through." He added.

From adding his final comment he received a jab in the ribs from Lindsay who was stood beside him and who had seen Flack's sickened reaction to hearing Cal was hurting Lara, whether he knew deep down the bastard probably was doing a lot more than just hurting her.

"We have to check this out. I have this feeling in my gut that's where Lara and Jace are. We need to go there." Flack said, hoping the others felt the same.

"Let's hope for their sakes your gut feeling is right." Mac said to him.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lara was back in her room. She'd been in there for hours now and she could see it was starting to get dark outside. She could hear Cal somewhere else in the house, he was yelling, very loudly, arguing with the guard. She knew Cal was more than pissed at her. She'd never attacked him like that and she was sure it was probably going to be one of the last things she ever did.

She heard the locks in the door turn and panic gripped her, she was sure it must be Cal. However it was Rita who ran in. "What the hell did you do?!" she spat at Lara.

"He hit Jace!" she said, knowing immediately Rita was talking about what she had done to Cal.

She could tell her news stunned Rita and she also thought she looked a little impressed.

"Please," Lara begged, "Jace hit Cal, you need to get him out of here before Cal really punishes him for it. Please, I'm begging you. Get him back to New York, the people I work with will protect you both, you can trust them.

Rita shook her head. "If I leave you here then Cal is going to kill you, my husband wants to do it now, your boy too."

Lara felt sick. She couldn't stand the thought of Jace being hurt.

"I'll let you out of here, we'll get your boy and the two of you can sneak out through the kitchen."

"No, bring him here, I can get him out of here." Lara said, "GO!"

Rita ran out of the room to fetch Jace so Lara ran over to the window and pulled off the planks of wood she had loosened. There was plenty of space for her and Jace to be able to get out. A minute later Rita came back in with Jace. Jace ran right up to Lara and hugged her tight. She saw the bruise on his face and felt her anger begin to boil again but she had to focus right now.

"Jace we have to go out this window and run as fast as we can..!"

"-But Mom!"

"Jace, we can do this, okay? Now, come on." she said as she helped him climb through the window and out onto the porch roof.

She then quickly climbed out of the window behind him and turned to look at Rita, she could only think of one way to help her, to thank her for her help. "Come on, come with us!"

"I….I c….can't." she stuttered.

"Yes you can, come on. We don't have time to waste." Lara replied.

"B…but…. I have nowhere to go!" Rita said sadly.

"Are you kidding me, for this you can stay with us!" Lara said and held her hand out to her.

Rita immediately took it and Lara helped her climb through the window. Lara crossed over the porch roof first and jumped down to the ground below, it wasn't high at all but she held her arms up to catch Jace who came next. Once he was on his feet she helped Rita, however as she jumped some roof tiles came falling off onto the ground, smashing loudly.

Panic hit them all. But without hesitating Lara took off running, grabbing hold of Jace' hand and pulling him behind her, "Rita, come on!"

Quietly they all took off running towards the forest that seemed to surround the house. The thick tall trees seemed to be standing guard and Lara couldn't help but think they were intimidating.

"LARA!" she heard Cal roar from back at the house.

Both Lara and Rita screamed as a loud gunshot rang out behind them. None of them were hit thankfully but knowing the danger they were now in they took off running even faster through the trees.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Flack couldn't remember the last time he had driven so fast. It was usually an hour's drive from Manhattan to Westchester but he had decided to do it in half that time and he didn't care if he had to break every speed limit there was in order to accomplish it.

He kept telling himself to trust his gut instinct. He knew he had to be right because if he wasn't he had wasted an hour that Lara and Jace didn't have.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lara had tight hold of Jaces' hand as they continued battling their way through the forest. Cal and the guard were out of the house and chasing after them all. _They weren't too far behind either. _Lara could hear Cal bellowing her name from somewhere behind them and if she was honest it was scaring the hell out of her.

"Lara! You're dead, you bitch! Bring me back my son and I might make it a quick!

"Mom!" Jace cried.

Lara could hear the panic in his voice. "He won't find us, baby. We just have to keep moving." Lara told him.

"LARA!" Cal roared again.

Rita was holding back branches for them to duck under and parting small saplings for them to climb through. "He won't find us out here, Jace, honey." she told Jace encouragingly.

However, her words had no longer left her mouth when, with a loud bang, she was slammed backwards into a tree. Lara reached out and grabbed her as she fell to the floor, taking her with her.

"Oh my God!" Lara cried out as she saw blood pumping from a small hole in Rita's chest.

She held her hand over the wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding but Rita pushed her away with a weak smile. "Take your boy, leave me here." she said with a shaky voice.

Lara shook her head as her tears began to fall, "I can't, you helped me now I have to help you." Lara said through her tears.

"Mom, will she be okay?" Jace asked.

"She's gonna be fine, kiddo, you'll see." Lara said trying to sound encouraging but failing miserably.

"Lara, take him. If Cal catches you he will kill you. I can stall them for a minute, give you two a chance."

"I can't leave you here." Lara cried.

"You have to." Rita said with another weak smile. "Go," she said her voice barely audible. "Go," she tried again but her voice was now nothing more than a whisper.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Lara said and placed a quick thankful kiss on the woman she barely knew forehead. She had after all helped her get Jace away from the house, now Lara had to get him far away and to safety.

She pushed herself to her feet and grabbed Jace and took off running. "Mom, why are we leaving her?" Jace cried.

"We have too, Jace."

"But, mom?"

Lara was about to tell him not to argue when another loud bang rang out. She yelped as pain ripped through her side. She slammed into a tree beside her and the nauseating pain continued to swell through her body. Jace quickly grabbed her, but she pushed herself away from the tree, "I'm fine." she lied convincingly, "Come on, we have to keep running." she told him, giving him a slight shove into a run.

As she ran beside him she tried to ignore the pain in her side and the warm blood she could feel seeping into her shirt.

**~0~0~**

Cal and the guard came to a stop by Rita's body. She lay practically lifeless and Cal was shocked to hear the guard beside him suddenly begin to cry. He turned to face him with utter disgust on his face.

"Bitch shouldn't have been running around the forest should she?" he snapped at the guard.

"Fuck, Cal, I didn't want her dead!" the guard cried.

"You idiot, that's what guns are for!" he yelled in his face.

"_She_ wasn't supposed to get shot." the guard said as he fell to his knees to cradle his wife who now lay dead on the forest floor.

Cal watched him shake her slightly as if to check she actually was dead. "If you're that cut up about it you can fucking join her." he said before he pressed the gun against the guard's head and fired the gun.

The guard's body slumped down onto his wife's body. Cal shook his head in disgust at the scene. He had thought the guard was a decent person, the kind he would have around in a tricky situation but he had just realised he was anything but and that was why he had killed him.

Forgetting about that he took off running again, hoping to catch up with Lara and Jace. She was certainly next on his hit list and then he would disappear with Jace, somewhere no one would ever find them.

**~0~0~0~0~**

It was quickly getting darker and Lara was trying her hardest to keep up with Jace as he weaved through the trees, but she was starting to fall back and he had to keep stopping for her to catch up with him.

"Mom, come on, what's wrong?" he asked.

She'd managed to keep her side hidden from him and having kept her hand over the wound on her side she'd managed to slow the bleeding slightly but running was only causing her blood to pump quicker from the wound.

Unable to run anymore she slumped against a tree, having to grip it with both hands in an attempt to stay upright. It was now Jace saw the blood, he suddenly realised she wasn't pale from running but because she was bleeding.

"Mom!" he cried out, panic drenching his voice. He ran over to her and moved to touch her wound. "Have you been shot?" he asked.

"Yeah, baby." she said, trying to brush it off. "I'm fine. I just need a minute or two."

"But Dad will catch us." He said as Lara sat down on the forest floor.

"I know, kiddo, that's why I need you to keep going…." Her words were cut off by the loud roar of an engine off in the distance. "Listen! We must be near a road." she said with a smile. "I need you to go on ahead and find it." she said.

Jace shook his head. "No mom, I'm not leaving you."

Lara smiled and reached up to touch his face, wincing in pain it caused her. "I'm gonna be right behind you, baby."

"Come on Mom, I can help you." he said as he tried to pull her arm over his shoulder in an attempt to assist her walking.

Lara could only whimper in pain. "Jace, please do what I say. I need you to run ahead and find help." she said, pleading with him.

"What if I get lost?" he asked.

"You won't, just follow the sounds of the cars and you'll come to the road, it can't be more than a mile or so away. "

"But what if I can't find you again? What if Dad catches up with you?"

"Baby, please!" Lara begged. "What do we always say?"

"I got your back…"

"I got your back," Lara said back to him like they usually did. "Now, you run ahead and I'll be right behind you. Okay?"

Jace just nodded, it was all he could do. He pulled Lara to her feet and then took off running ahead of her. Lara tried to run behind him, but she was dizzy from the blood loss and she felt sick from the pain. She could only stumble along behind Jace, grabbing hold of trees in an effort to keep on her feet and not fall flat on her face.

Jace kept turning around to check Lara was still following him. He could just about make her out through the trees. He looked to see if his Dad was behind her but he could see him nowhere. He turned and began running towards the road again.

It was another couple of minutes before he heard another truck zoom past. He had to run up a steep bank before he finally came to the road. It was only a quiet sort of road but by some miracle he saw what looked like a police car coming towards him. He jumped up and down, waving his arms.

The car stopped beside him and a Ranger in a beige shirt opened the door. "Son, what are you doing out here on your own?!" he asked.

"Please, I'm with my Mom, she's been shot!" he cried and made his way back down the bank. The Ranger quickly jumped out and followed after him.

Lara toppled forward as she reached the bottom of the bank. She felt someone roll her over but her vision was getting darker and darker. She didn't recognise the person, but she heard Jace say, "Mom, I found us help."

_Then everything went dark._

**~0~0~0~0~**

Flack and the others were about ten minutes away from where the guards house was. He hadn't made his target of a half hour thanks to the busy traffic but forty five minutes wasn't bad either he figured. He was so lost in his thoughts he almost didn't hear his phone ringing but when he did he grabbed it and slapped it to his face. "Flack!" he yelled into it.

"_Don, its Jace!"_

Flack brought the car to an abrupt stop, forcing the others behind him to swerve around him so as not to hit him. He rolled down his window so the others could hear him as they ran over to see what was wrong.

"Jace, where are you? Where's your Mom?" he said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"_We're at the hospital. Please come and get us!"_ he cried.

"Jace, I'm gonna come right there. Who's with you?"

"_I'm with a Ranger."_

"Let me speak to him buddy." he said so Jace handed over the phone.

**~0~0~0~0~**

It hadn't taken Flack long to get to the hospital where the Ranger had taken Lara to. The others ran down the corridor beside him. The moment Jace saw him he called out to him.

"Don!" he said as he ran full speed towards him.

Flack held his arms open and scooped him up, holding him close, thankful he was okay. It was only when he held him out slightly he could see the bruise on his face. "What happened?" he asked.

"It was my Dad." he said sadly.

"Okay, buddy I need you to stay with Adam while I go talk to the Doctors." Flack said placing Jace down next to Adam.

They all looked up when they heard a sudden commotion. They watched as a load more doctors came running down the corridor and burst through the door Jace had just been standing outside of just moments ago. It was only now Flack saw the sign,_ Surgery. _

The Ranger had told him Lara was in Surgery. He stormed towards the sign with Jo, Mac and the others following behind him. He was almost knocked onto this ass as a nurse came rushing out.

"What's going on?" he asked in a panic, "Is that Lara Deluca in there?" he asked but the nurse ignored him and ran off.

He turned to see another doctor running towards him. "Please can you tell me who is in there? Is it Lara Deluca?" he asked.

This doctor also seemed to ignore him and just disappeared into the room.

"Why the fuck won't anyone talk to me?!" he yelled becoming more than frustrated.

Another doctor suddenly came running out of the room. Flack felt sick by the blood that he was covered in. "Please," Flack said grabbing hold of him so he couldn't run off, "What's the name of the patient in there? Is it Lara Deluca?"

The doctor pulled his mask off and asked, "Are you the husband?"

"No…she's, she's my girlfriend." he said.

The doctor looked at the others behind him. "Please, we all work with her."

"We're the only family she has besides her son here." Mac said as he scooped Jace up into his arms.

The doctor nodded. "She's lost a lot of blood. We're doing everything we can."

The door burst open behind him and a nurse popped her head out. "Where are those bloods, we're losing her in here?!" she yelled before she ducked back inside.

The doctor ripped himself from Flack's grip and went off running down the corridor. "We need bloods in the OR!" he yelled.

Flack could only watch, the familiarity of the situation made him feel sick and remembering the way it had ended last time made him feel all the more sick. He kept thinking he couldn't lose her. He wasn't prepared to lose Lara like he had lost Jess.

**TBC**

**Thanks so much for reading, please feel free to review and let me know what you think. **


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm so so sorry this has taken so long to update. I've been on holiday and then I got promoted in work so it's hard to find a minute to do anything. Hope this chapter was worth the wait.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**Chapter 14**

_Flack walked into the now empty OR. The floor was covered in blood, Lara's blood. Surgical equipment and bloodied gowns were strewn across the floor where the doctors and nurses had thrown them after their failed attempt to save Lara's life. _

"_She'd lost too much blood. The damage was too great." They'd told him._

_Flack walked up to the operating table where Lara lay, a blood soaked sheet draped over her body. He wanted to see her, wanted to apologise for not protecting her like he said he would, and to say goodbye. He gently took hold of the sheet and pulled it back so he could see her face. _

_She was as beautiful as he remembered. He ran a lock of her hair through his fingers and that was as soft as he remembered. He reached up and softly ran the back of his fingers over her bruised cheek. He managed to choke back a sob but it didn't stop tears from running down his cheeks._

_This all felt too familiar, seeing a loved one dead on an operating table. He couldn't handle it and he knew he had to get out of there before he had a total meltdown. So, he leant down and placed a soft and loving kiss on her forehead and tried not to pay attention to her cold skin beneath his lips. He softly whispered, I'm sorry, I love you so much._

_He stood up to look at her face one more time. He almost fell backwards to see Lara's eyes open, she was staring right at him with eyes that looked like ice. "Don," she said, her voice just a whisper._

Flack suddenly sat upright in the chair he was sitting in. It took him a second to catch his breath. Once he had he looked up and glanced at Jo who was standing beside him. She smiled at him and placed her hand on his shoulder again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"I was just….I was having a stupid dream." he said as he watched Lara.

He watched her chest rise and fall in a slow steady rhythm. She was hooked up with tubes and wires to machines that bleeped and buzzed. The machines made him nervous, he kept waiting for something to go wrong with them. He knew nothing could afford to go wrong, Lara needed them.

"Sweetheart, you're exhausted." Jo said knowingly to him.

"I can't leave her bedside until she wakes up, Jo." he said.

"Has anyone been to talk to you yet?" Jo asked him.

"Not since the nurse told me I could come in here. She said a Doctor would be along to talk to me, but that was hours ago now." he said, sounding as exhausted as he looked. "Where is everyone?" he asked.

"Getting some food." she told him.

"How's Jace?"

"Two burgers and a large fries later and he is _fast_ asleep." Jo said with a smile, "Adam's staying with him, think they're new best friends."

"He's a great kid." Flack said.

"He sure is." Jo replied, "Look, why don't you go get something to eat. I can stay here and keep an eye on her."

"I appreciate that, Jo, I do, but I can't leave until someone tells me what her chances are."

"She's a fighter Flack, I'd say her chances are high."

"Look at her, Jo. That son-of-a-bitch worked her over like she was a _God-damn_ punching bag. I swear to God when I find him…." Flack said becoming more and more angry, more and more emotional.

"Hey, come on, she's gonna be fine." Jo said as she gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze.

They both looked up as there was a knock on the door and someone walked in. Flack stood upon seeing the male doctor who walked in, all he could hope was they were here bringing good news.

The doctor walked right over to them, he seemed confident but both Jo and Flack couldn't help but think he looked exhausted.

"Hi there, I'm Doctor Gates. I'm sorry I haven't been to speak to you sooner, but straight after Lara's surgery I was thrown into another emergency surgery. Unfortunately that patient wasn't as lucky as Lara was."

"So she's going to be okay?" Flack asked.

"You're her husband?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm her….she's my….I'm her boyfriend."

The Doctor looked at Flack for a moment and both Flack and Jo couldn't miss the sympathetic smile he offered.

"What is it?" Jo asked.

The Doctor turned back to look at Flack as he said, "Where you aware that Miss Deluca was pregnant?"

"What?" Flack asked in shock

"I'll take that as a no." the Doctor replied.

"How far along?" Flack asked.

"You said was?!" Jo said.

"The trauma done to her body and then the surgery required to keep her alive….well I'm afraid at such an early stage…."

"How far along was she?" Flack asked again.

"Three weeks at most."

Flack felt like he had been kicked in the chest. He knew what this meant, it meant the baby was his, his and Lara's. Hearing the Doctor speak to him again, and feeling Jo supportively grab his hand brought him out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Jo nodded to the Doctor and thanked him. She then watched as he walked out leaving her alone to comfort Flack. The room fell silent, except for the noises from Lara's machines. It was why Jo almost jumped a mile when Flack punched the wall. The loud smack was almost deafening.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" he yelled as tears spilled from his eyes.

Jo rushed over to him and threw her arms around him. Flack wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder as he cried for the unborn baby he would never get to know thanks to Cal.

**~0~0~0~0~**

_**Two days later.**_

Jo was stood in her kitchen looking out of the window at the night-time traffic on the street below. Her apartment was quiet, too quiet now that Jace and Ellie where both sleeping. Jace had been staying with her since leaving the hospital. Although most would appreciate the peace the kids being in bed created, Jo found in it left her with too much opportunity to think and right now she didn't want to think, but as it where she was lost in her thoughts. She didn't hear the person behind her walk up to her, she just felt them wrap their arms around her and pull her into them.

She had to smile at the familiar feel of Mac's arms. "Jace okay?" she asked him.

"Fast asleep again."

Mac had been the one to go in and comfort the young boy when he had woken up crying out. He'd been having nightmares since being rescued. "I swear when I get my hands on Cal…"

"I know…. you wanna beat the crap out of him just like the rest of us do."

Jo laughed slightly as she turned around in Mac's arms and nuzzled her face into his chest and held him. "_Yes._ I just hate all the hurt he caused." she said.

"I know, we all do and believe me, Jo, he'll pay for it." Mac said before placing a loving kiss on top of her head.

"But that doesn't erase the stuff he did, the baby that Flack and Lara lost."

"Jo, none of what happened is fair, but what will be fair is the punishment Cal _will_ receive."

"I just hope that that's enough for Lara and Flack." Jo said.

**~0~0~0~0~**

_**One day later**_

Flack was sat in Lara's hospital room. She'd only been in this new hospital for a day after having been transported to a hospital back in Manhattan. It meant that Flack could have more of his own guys watching out for her, _just in case Cal tried anything,_ and it made it easier for him to spend all his time at the hospital with her, waiting for her to wake up.

_While he was waiting he could do nothing but think_. Flack had never spent much time thinking about becoming a father. It was something he always wanted to be but he'd never _really_ thought about the things he would do as a father, but right now that was all he could think about.

He could imagine the baby Lara had lost, he could see it's big brown eyes and dark chocolate brown coloured hair. He was sure the child would have been a girl, the image was so clear in his head. He could imagine teaching her to play basketball, with Danny and little Lucy playing with them.

He could imagine her first day at pre-school, her first day at high school, even her prom. He didn't doubt she would be as beautiful as Lara and so knew he would have had to keep a close eye on boys. It was a thought that made him smile. He could see it now; him and Jace interrogating the first boy she would bring home….. _His smile quickly faded_, because none of what he was imagining was going to come true…. He would never know whether the baby was a boy or the little girl he could picture.

What he did know was that he was going to make Cal pay for losing him his child, his and Lara's child.

He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts by a sudden change in the rhythm of beeps and blips of Lara's machines that he had become so used to. He looked up and was amazed to see Lara lying there, looking confused as she clearly tried to figure out where she was.

Flack ran over to the door, threw it open and yelled "I need a doctor!"

He turned on his heels and ran over to Lara's bedside. "Hey, baby, its me." he said, holding her hand and gently brushing her hair back of her face.

"Jace?" Lara said, her voice sounding raspy.

"He's fine. Mac and Jo are watching him."

The door to Lara's room suddenly burst open and Flack found himself being dragged backwards by a familiar looking nurse. "You'll have to wait outside while we do some checks." she told him.

"But I want to stay with her." he protested.

"You can come back in the second we're done. Go get yourself a drink, or phone your friends and tell them the good news." she said before she shut the door in his face.

**~0~0~0~0~**

True to her word the nurse had called Flack as soon as they were done with their tests and the Doctor had finished talking to Lara. However, Flack couldn't help but notice the sombre look on the young nurse's face.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"We had to tell her about the baby…. She really needs you right now." she told him, giving his shoulder a supportive squeeze.

Flack nodded and thanked her then made his way into the small hospital room. It was like stepping into a totally different world, one where it was completely silent. He closed the door, trying not to make even the slightest sound. He then looked up at Lara who was propped up in the bed, with her hands held over her face. Flack could tell from the way her body was shaking that she was crying.

He made his way slowly over to her, the only sound in the room was the soft _tap tap_ of his shoes against the hard shiny floor. The moment Lara felt the bed shift slightly, as he sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her, she threw her arms around him and broke into loud heartbroken sobs. As Flack held her and listened to her cry for the baby she too would never know, he let his own tears fall.

**TBC**

**Hope you liked, please review and let me know what you think. **

**Again, sorry it took so long.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks to all those reading and to those who reviewed. Not much more of this story left to go now, only a couple more chapters. **

**Chapter 15**

_**One month later. **_

Flack was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. He loved cooking and it wasn't something he often found he time to do but this was the first day off he'd had in ages so he was making the most of it by preparing breakfast for Lara, Jace and himself. They were still in bed, or so he thought. He looked up in surprise when Lara walked into the kitchen, clearly having just showered.

"Good morning, gorgeous. Hungry?" he asked.

"Not really." she told him matter-of-factly and helped herself to coffee from the machine which he had filled ready for breakfast.

Flack sighed and looked at her. Even from the back he couldn't help but notice the weight she had lost since coming home from the hospital. He stopped what he was doing and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, wanting to hold her but she hadn't heard him coming up behind her and so his touch made her jump a mile.

In the commotion her coffee cup was knocked over splashing hot coffee everywhere but luckily neither of them was burned. "Christ, Don! I've told you about sneaking up on me!" she snapped.

"I didn't sneak up on you." he said, trying not to sound as frustrated as he felt, as he grabbed a cloth and began mopping up the coffee.

"Leave it, Don, I'll do it myself. " Lara said as she snatched the cloth from his hand.

"Baby, can't you just sit down and eat the breakfast I made you?" he asked. "I'll clean this up."

"I told you I'm not hungry!" she snapped at him.

"Lara, you need to eat. You were told that by the doctors, you need to rebuild your strength…"

"I'm fine, Don."

"Lara, you can't afford to lose any more weight!"

"Don, get off my back!" Lara yelled as she turned to face him and threw the cloth down on to the worktop. "Stop telling me what I have to do!"

"I'm not…" Don tried to say.

"Yes you are. All I ever hear from you is eat something, Lara or drink something, Lara, or do this, do that, Lara! I'm sick of it!"

"I'm just trying to help you." he said.

"You can help me by backing off!"

As soon as she finished yelling, Lara immediately regretted being so harsh with him, even more so when she glanced around at the wonderful breakfast he had prepared. She wanted to apologise to him but she felt tears building in her eyes, and she was about to break in front of him and she didn't want to so she pushed past him and walked away.

Flack was considering throwing the whole breakfast into the bin but then he heard a small cough from behind him. He turned to find Jace standing there in the doorway, watching, a sad look on his face. "Morning, buddy. Are you hungry?" he said.

Jace just nodded. Flack smiled at him and pulled him out a chair at the table. Jace walked over and sat down. A moment later Flack put a big plate of food in front of him. "Enjoy buddy!" he said ruffling the young boy's hair up. He then grabbed his own plate of food and sat down next to him. However, he could only pick at the food, having suddenly lost his appetite.

**~0~0~0~0~**

The punch came too quick for Danny to dodge, and it was hard enough to make him groan in pain. He quickly tried to forget about the painful blow and throw his own punch but his attacker seemed determined to cause him a great amount of pain.

"Easy!" he warned them and brought his hands up in front of his face.

He was able to block three blows aimed at his head but was too slow to dodge a blow in the side. He quickly threw his own punch and hit his attacker in their side. Another quick blow from him hit them in the face. Luckily Flacks head gear protected him from this blow, just like Danny's was protecting him from the punches he threw at him.

"Easy, Flack!" Danny warned as Flack prepared for another hit.

The punch he threw would have hurt like hell but Danny quickly ducked to the side and ran across the ring. He pulled his head gear off knowing Flack wouldn't hit him without it on. It was a sign to Flack that the fight was over.

Flack dropped his arms to his side before reaching up and ripping off his head gear and throwing it to the side with more force than was necessary. He let out a frustrated growl that Danny couldn't miss.

"Got something you want to share with the rest of the class?!" Danny asked.

"I'm fine!" Flack snapped.

"Sure you are…" he spat back sarcastically at him. "Flack, you were getting ready to knock my head off just now, something's eating you!"

Flack glared at Danny and for a moment Danny was sure his friend was going to punch him but then he sighed heavily and spilled his thoughts. "It's Lara." he told him as he began pulling his boxing gloves off.

"She okay? I thought she was recovering well." Danny said, copying his friend by taking off his own gloves.

"Physically, she's fine, except for the fact she's thin as a rake because she hardly ever eats!"

Danny and Flack climbed out of the boxing ring together and moved to sit down on a bench beside the ring while they continued their conversation. "Have you spoken to her about it?"

"I've tired, but whenever I try asking if she's okay, or rather talking about the fact that I know she's not okay, we end up arguing. What's worse is Jace has to hear every word of it."

"After what she went though, it's a wonder she's holding it together at all." Danny said.

"I know that, I do, I just wish she'd talk to me about it. Instead she keeps it all bottled up. You and I both know that bottling it up doesn't do anyone any good."

"Flack, you heard what the doctor said, she was badly beaten by that son-uva-bitch She watched him beat her kid, and the sexual assault... The doctor said he hadn't seen such severe injuries sustained through rape like that in years…"

"To be honest with you, I think she's coping with the rape." Flack told him.

"Have you two…?"

"No, we haven't. Sometimes at night she begs me to hold her, other times she's perched on the edge of the bed so we don't even brush against each other by accident." Flack told him.

"You think she's struggling over the baby."

"I know she's struggling over the baby."

"Then you have to speak to her, mate. Let her know how you feel about losing the baby too." Danny told him.

Flack knew he was right, but it sounded easier than he knew it would actually be.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lara walked into the small coffee shop and straight into the welcoming arms of Jo and then Lindsay.

"Sweetheart, when was the last time you ate? There's not an ounce of fat on you." Jo said, hiding her worry with a smile.

"Good diet plan, get held hostage, beaten, raped and shot by your ex-husband and drop the pounds like that." Lara said with a click of her fingers and fake smile.

Lindsay and Jo could only offer each other the same worried look.

"How are you doing?" Lindsay asked Lara as they moved to sit down in a booth.

Jo had already ordered their coffees so the moment they were seated the waitress brought them over. They all took their drinks and thanked the young waitress who went off to serve other customers.

"Are you doing okay?" Jo asked Lara who was looking into her mug off coffee like it held all of life's answers.

"Jo, I appreciate you concern, yours too Linds, but really….I'm fine." Lara said. "Besides, I thought this was supposed to be about having fun. Tell me what you two have been up to. How are the kids"? she asked, desperate to talk about anyone and anything but herself.

Lindsay sighed and decided to tell her about Lucy's newest phase but Jo could only look on in concern. Both women would later discuss how worried they were over Lara.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Flack walked into the apartment with a huge bouquet of flowers. Lara was sat on the couch under a blanket with some sort of show playing away on the television, but she didn't appear to be looking at it or even aware that it was on. She looked up with a startled look on her face when Flack threw his keys down.

"Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you." he said to her, holding the flowers out to her.

Lara smiled and pushed herself up from off the couch. She walked over to him and took the flowers. "They're beautiful." she said with a smile.

"So are you." he said moving forward to kiss her, but she was quick to side step around him.

"I best put these in water before they die."

Flack sighed and knew now was as good a time as any to discuss what needed to be discussed. "Where's Jace?" he asked.

"Staying over at Jo's tonight. Ellie has the newest Wii game or something… Jo picked him up before." she said without looking at Flack who followed her into the kitchen.

"Lara, can we please just sit down and talk?" he said as he watched her as she prepared the flowers into a vase from under the sink.

"About what?" she asked, still not turning to look at him.

"About what happened….about the baby?"

He saw Lara freeze for a moment but then she shook it off and carried on. "What's the point?" she asked.

"Because I know what happened to the baby is killing you as much as it kills me!" he blurted out.

"Don, please I really don't want to talk about this." she said as she tried to push past him, abandoning the flowers in the sink.

Flack quickly stopped her by putting his hands on her sides. She took one big step back and held her arms up in the air and gave him a look that said _'don't touch me!'_

"Baby, this is what I want to talk about. I can understand you not wanting me to touch you right now… I can deal with that, but what I can't deal with is you shutting me out when it comes to the baby."

"Stop it, Don!" Lara yelled at him, "Stop talking about the baby, there is NO baby!"

Once more she tried to storm past him but once more Flack stopped her. "Don't touch me!" she screamed at him.

Flack was a little startled by her reaction but he wasn't backing off yet. "Lara, you have to know I would never hurt you, not for anything in this world or the next…. You have to know how guilty I feel that I couldn't stop Cal from hurting you and Jace, or that I couldn't stop him from hurting you so bad that we lost our baby!"

"The baby was mine to protect, Don. I lost the baby, it was growing inside of me! I was the one who was supposed to protect it and I failed, just like I failed to protect Jace. _God,_ Don, how can you not hate me right now? I am the reason you won't get to be a father in nine months. It's my fault you won't get to hold your first child. I hate myself for that, so how can _you_ not hate me?!" Lara cried.

Flack was far too shocked to answer her straight away. "You think I blame you for losing the baby?" he asked in disbelief.

"You should." she replied.

"Lara, you lost the baby because of what Cal did to you. He is the only one I blame and when I find him I will make him pay for the baby, and for what he did to you and Jace. I promise you that, just like I promise you that I do not blame you for us losing the baby and I can tell you now I will never ever hate you."

The moment he had finished speaking Lara burst into tears. She stepped forward up to Flack, he wrapped his arms around her and held her loosely. Only when he felt her wrap her arms tight around him did he tighten his grip slightly.

He held her for a moment before kissing her on top of her head. "You have no idea how much I love you." he whispered to her.

"I hope it's as much as I love you." she cried into his chest.

Flack kissed her head again and continued to hold her as she cried.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading. Please review and let me know what you think.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thanks for the reviews and to everyone reading. **

**This chapter is only short and contains lyrics, I love writing chapters that are based on/around a song. This one came to me when listening to a Kylie Minogue song called Flower. It's a lovely song and the lyrics just seemed perfect for the scene of this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY, if you haven't then they are mine. **

**Chapter 16**

Lara and Flack were lay in bed together. Lara was wrapped in Flack's arms with her head resting on his chest as she listened to his heart beating. They had just made love, for Lara it had been a reminder of what the act was really about. With Flack there was no violence, not need for control and to cause pain… with him it was simply just about two people who loved each other and wanted to share that love.

Thinking about it made Lara wrap her arms tighter around Flack, "I love you so much." she told him.

Flack smiled, then kissed the top of her head and replied, "I love you too."

"I'm sorry, for the way I've been about the baby. I was so busy wanting you to hate me and stop being so nice to me that I didn't bother to ask how you were feeling over all of this." Lara said.

Flack pulled her tighter into him. "It kills me that we lost the baby…but it would have destroyed me completely to have lost you and Jace too."

"I don't know why but I think the baby would have been a girl." Lara said.

"I thought so too. I imagined teaching her how to play basketball and I imagined interrogating her first boyfriend with Jace helping me."

Lara could only laugh, "I can just see that." she said, imaging the same thing. "Do you still want that?" she asked.

"You mean a baby?" he asked. Lara didn't reply but he felt her nod against his chest. "I want a half a dozen kids with you." he told her.

"Ouch!" Lara replied with a laugh. She then said, "I wish I had never met Cal, but still had Jace because I wouldn't change that kid for the world. Why couldn't I have met you back in high school?"

"You would have hated me back in high school." Flack told her, making them both laugh. "I was always up to no good. I remember the amount of times I used to sneak out at night and hang out with my friends in Central Park. One time we set fireworks off and the police came and took me home. My father went mad at me. After that I started cleaning up my act and years later I became a cop."

"You really set off fireworks in Central Park?" she asked him.

"Yeah, a couple of times, right off of the Gapstow bridge…" Flack stopped mid-sentence as a thought came to him. He quickly kissed Lara on top of the head and then climbed out of the bed. "I have an idea, get changed!" he told her as he raced to throw some clothes on.

"Why, it's the middle of the night?" Lara asked, confused.

Flack leant over the bed, kissed her again and said, "Trust me."

Lara could only smile and trust him, so she did as he asked and got changed, wondering what on earth he had planned.

**~0~0~0~0~**

"You're really not going to tell me what's in the bag are you?" Lara said to Flack who held a large size brown paper bag close to his chest with his right arm, his left arm was down by his side with Lara's hand neatly fitted into his.

"Nope!" he said with a proud look on his face. He had half expected her to rip the bag from his hands, hence why he held it so close to his chest. He had nipped into a 24hr store on their way to Central Park.

Lara still had no idea what they were doing in Central Park at gone midnight and she had tried asking what Flack's big idea was but he had yet to tell her anything. Still she walked with him right over to Gapstow Bridge where he finally came to a stop.

Lara smiled and stepped away from him and perched herself on the wall of the bridge, "If you tell me you have fireworks in that bag I am going to shove a firework up your…." Lara was cut of midsentence by Flack's lips gently covering hers.

A moment later he stepped back and placed in her hands what he had pulled out of the bag. Lara studied the flat packed object, "A lantern?" she asked in confusion.

Flack took it from her and unpacked it. She watched him light it and studied the flower like pictures on it. It was beautiful and as the fire lit it up it became spectacular.

_**Wrapped in a blanket of hope**_

_**Asleep in a bed of dreams**_

_**My step into eternity was not what it might have been**_

_**Or not at all**_

_**For who knows which way the wind is gonna blow**_

_**I'm waiting for your gentle whisper **_

This lantern is for the baby we lost." Flack said.

"Don…" Lara began.

"By letting it go we're not forgetting about the baby but we're moving forward. We both need to do it and that way when the time is right we will get our baby. We'll get the chance to be parents."

Lara turned away from him with tears in her eyes. "It's not fair that we have to do this."

"You're right, it's not fair, but we have to do it, not just for us but for the baby too." Flack said to her.

Lara could only look at him with tears streaming down her face. She couldn't miss the tears that had formed in Flack's eyes.

"Baby, you don't have to do this now if you're not ready." Flack said.

"I am," she told him, knowing she had to do this now, "Are you?" she asked.

Flack took a deep breath and tried to hold his tears back but one single tear rolled down his cheek. Lara stepped forward and gently brushed her thumb over the tear before reaching up on her tiptoes and kissing where the tear had been. "We have to move on, all of us." she said.

Flack took in another deep breath and then kissed Lara on top of her head. He then wrapped an arm around her and they both took hold of the lantern. "Bye baby." Flack said.

"Good-bye angel." Lara added. Then together they let go of the lantern.

_**Distant child, my flower **_

_**Are you blowing in the breeze?**_

_**Can you feel me? **_

_**As I breathe life into you**_

_**In a while my flower**_

_**Somewhere in a desert haze**_

_**I know one day you'll amaze me**_

Flack moved behind Lara and wrapped his arms around her middle, resting his hands on her stomach, holding her close to him where she held onto his arms, never wanting him to let her go. They both stood watching as the lantern gently rose into the starry night sky. The soft breeze taking it slowly higher and higher until it was not much more than a tiny orange light above the park.

_**An act of balancing, imagining the moment I can be**_

_**Looking deep into your eyes**_

_**For now a mystery**_

_**Or not at all**_

_**For who knows which way the wind is gonna blow**_

_**I'm waiting for your gentle whisper**_

When eventually they could barely make out the lantern in the night sky Flack stepped beside Lara and then wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Let's go home." he said to her.

Lara smiled at him and then wrapped in one another's arms they made their way out of the park and back home and the Lantern continued to blow in the breeze high up above them.

_**Distant child, my flower **_

_**Are you blowing in the breeze?**_

_**Can you feel me? **_

_**As I breathe life into you**_

_**In a while my flower**_

_**Somewhere in a desert haze**_

_**I know one day you'll amaze me**_

**~0~0~0~0~**

Flack and Lara were back in their apartment. After being out in the chilly night air they had climbed back into bed and lay close together, wrapped up in one another's arms again, Lara with her head resting on his chest once more. They both had to admit they felt much better since releasing the lantern.

They hadn't forgotten about the baby and they never would but they were at peace with it now. Lara was smiling properly for the time in ages as was Flack. He was softly tracing soft circle with his thumb on her arm.

Lara kissed his chest. "Thank you."

_**Two hearts in the hands of time**_

_**Your love bleeds into mine**_

_**I'll be with you forever**_

_**And give you everything I am **_

_**Want you to understand**_

_**It's you and I together**_

Flack kissed the top of her head and decided to say what he had been thinking since they had got home from the park, "Lara, will you marry me?"

Lara quickly sat up and looked at him in shock, like she hadn't really heard what he had said. Flack was worried, he was waiting for her to get up and storm off but suddenly she smiled, it was a smile that covered her entire face that made her eyes light up. "Yes!" she cried.

"Really?" he asked, having to be sure.

"Yes!" she cried again sounding even more excited.

Flack threw his arms around her and pulled her into him where they shared a loving kiss.

_**Distant child, my flower **_

_**Are you blowing in the breeze?**_

_**Can you feel me? **_

_**As I breathe life into you**_

_**In a while my flower**_

_**Somewhere in a desert haze**_

_**I know one day you'll amaze me…**_

**TBC**

**Thanks so much for reading. Please, please review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I'd love to hear what you guys think of lyric/song chapters? Do you think they work?**

**So what's going on in the new series, I'm missing out on it all! I know Jo and Mac had a bit of an argument but are they okay now? Did watch the episode with Flack and his family involved, such a brilliant episode!**

**Thanks again.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks to everyone reading and to anyone who is leaving a review. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY **

**Chapter 17**

Lara cried out in shock as she was scooped up from off her feet and laid down on the floor on her back. She threw a quick punch at her attacker in the face and jumped back up to her feet, ready to strike again.

"Come on, baby. That all you got?!" she mocked, looking right at Flack who had to rub his cheek with the back of his arm as his hand was gloved.

"Come on, that was just a tap!" she joked.

"Then I wish you hit like a girl because that kinda hurt!" Flack said.

"Do you want me to kiss it better?" she asked.

"Yeah." he said and turned his face to the side and leaned closer to her.

Lara smiled wickedly as she stepped closer to him but only to hit him in the same spot again. She quickly jumped back laughing at the look on his face. Flack couldn't hold in his laughter. "You wanna play?" he said as he moved towards her.

"No!" she laughed, "We're practising." She tried to tell him, trying to sound serious but failing.

"End of practice!" he told her as he moved towards her.

"Don't!" she warned him, unable not to laugh, as he held his arms open.

Before she had chance to turn and run he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her all over her cleft cheek and down her neck. The moment his lips then touched hers she melted into him. She loved being in his arms and she adored his kisses. As the kiss ended they moved to sit on a bench at the side of the empty gym.

Flack quickly pulled off his own gloves and then gently took hold of Lara's hands so he could take her gloves off. Once they were off he brought her hands up to his face and placed a soft kiss on her palms.

"What?" he had to ask looking at the huge smile on her face.

"I'm just really happy right now. You and I are doing fantastic, I love my job and couldn't be happier to be back and out on the front line again. Jace is more than happy and to top it all off you and I have the house to ourselves tonight."

"We do?" Flack asked her.

"Yes, because Jo and Mac are taking he and Ellie to the movies and then he's staying over." Lara told him.

"What time do we have the house alone?" Flack asked.

"As soon as I get back from taking Jace to Jo's."

"I'll take him." Flack said as they got up and headed for the changing rooms.

"Well while you take him I'm make us some food. You'll need your energy." Lara said with a seductive smile before she disappeared into the ladies changing rooms.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lara was stood in the kitchen peeling some vegetables and throwing them into a pan of water, ready to boil them. She stopped what she was doing when Jace came running in. "You ready to go, buddy?" she asked him.

"Yeah. Bye Mom." he said as he threw his arms around her waist.

Lara held him back and kissed the top of his head. "Bye, baby."

"Love you." Jace said.

"Love you too bud." she replied.

"Let's get going, Jace." Flack said as he walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a piece of peeled carrot and threw it into his mouth. He kissed Lara and playfully grabbed Jace and carried him out of the kitchen under his arm.

"See you tomorrow, Mom!" Jace called out, laughing.

"Bye!" she called after him before she turned and returned to chopping vegetables.

Once all the vegetable were peeled and cooked, she glanced into the oven and checked on the piece of lamb she was slow roasting. She set the pans on the lowest heat and decided to go jump in the bath with a glass of wine while she waited for Flack to return home.

**~0~0~**

Lara was happily soaking in the bath when she heard her cell phone ringing, it was on the floor beside the tub, resting on a towel. She reached down and grabbed it, checking out caller ID before she put it to her ear.

"Hi," she said as she answered the phone to Flack.

"_Hi yourself," he replied with a cheesy grin. _

"You drop Jace off okay?" she asked.

"_Yes, and to no surprise at all Mac was already at Jo's house, cooking dinner for the four of them no less. Those two are seriously together."_

"We knew they were." Lara said before taking a sip of wine.

"_What you up to?" Flack asked as he came to a stop at some red lights._

"I am in the bath with a large and very tasty glass of wine." she told him.

"_Really," Flack said, liking the sounds of her in the bath, "How long are you going to be in the bath?"_

Lara was about to answer when she heard the stereo come on, _Sarah McLachlan, her favourite_. She smiled and replied, "That depends, how long it will take you to get in here?" she said presuming it was him who had put the music on.

"_The water might be cold in a minute, why don't I meet you in the bedroom?" he suggested as he began driving again, the lights now on green._

"If you walk fast the water won't be cold." she said to him.

_Flack was a little confused by what she said, but replied, "I'll meet you in bed, if you stay in the bath too long you'll be as wrinkled as a raisin."_

Lara climbed out of the bath and grabbed her bathrobe and wrapped it around herself. She pulled the plug on the bath and finished the little bit of wine left in her glass then replied, "You're just too lazy to walk to the bathroom," she said as she walked out of the bathroom.

_Flack was too confused by this to let it go, "Baby, by the time I get home you'll be out of the bath."_

Lara froze in the hallway, her heart seemed to skip a beat as the music suddenly got a little louder, "W-wait, wait..what? You… you mean you're not in the apartment?"

"_No, I'm still on my way home, the traffic sucks tonight." he told her, his heart starting to race as he just knew something wasn't right. Lara's next words confirmed this._

"Then who put the music on?" she asked, not seeing or hearing the shadowy figure who stepped behind her.

"_Lara, get out of the apartment!" Flack yelled to her. _

This was met by a loud 'smack' followed by Lara's cries, "Don, help me!" she screamed.

_Flack couldn't miss the fact that she sounded far away from the phone. Her next cries made her sound even further away. "LARA!" he yelled. _

_There was a loud gunshot and then the line went dead. For a second Flack froze, then he floored it and prayed he would get home in time to save Lara from the hands of her attacker, who he just knew had to be Cal._

**TBC**

**Thanks so much for reading, only one more chapter left after this one. **


	18. Chapter 18

**A huge, huge thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story. I'm soo sooo sorry it has taken me so long to update. I haven't had a day off from work in weeks, been pulling fifty plus hour weeks so just haven't had time between working and sleeping to write, but I have a week off now so I'm hoping to really catch up on stories now. **

**So here's the final chapter, hope you like it.  
**

**Disclaimer: Not mine if you've seen them on CSI: NY.**

**Chapter 18**

Flack was driving as fast as he possibly could. His heart was pounding so hard that he was sure it was going to burst right through his chest. "Please, God! Please, God let her be okay!" he prayed over and over as he grabbed his phone and tried calling Mac again.

He had tried once and had got no answer. He'd already called for back-up but he needed to let Mac and Jo know what was happening. Still getting no answer from Mac's phone he was about to hang up and try Jo's again but at the last minute Mac answered.

"Don, what's up?" Mac asked.

"Mac, Cal's got Lara again!" he yelled right before he had to turn sharply to avoid running head on into a lorry.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lara was trying to pull herself along the floor on her stomach but Cal was pressed down on top on her, grabbing her arms, trying to pull them behind her back. She had got a quick look at the zip ties in his hand and knew she couldn't let him get them on her because if he did she really didn't stand a chance.

"Get off me!" she yelled at him when she felt him press his knee into her back and rip her arms back. She felt him wrap the zip tie around her left wrist and cried out in frustration. Then, not willing to give in yet she ripped her right arm from his grasp and swung her elbow back.

It slammed into his crotch, making him fall back off her with a yelp of pain. Without waiting a second she jumped up to her feet and ran into the kitchen with Cal right on her heels. She quickly spotted the pans on the stove and she wasted no time in running over to them.

She grabbed the biggest pan and turned and threw it without having time to really aim it like she would have liked too. She felt some of the boiling water spray back and splash her arms but it was nothing compared to the amount that soaked Cal all over his arms and the left side of his face, neck and chest.

She didn't stand around to hear Cal's roars of pain but they echoed about the apartment around her anyway. She ran through the living room and down the hall and into her bedroom. She was heading for the bedside cabinet where she always kept her gun. She got to it and pulled it open. Her heart suddenly sank to see it wasn't there. _She just knew Cal must have already moved it._

"Looking for something?!" she heard him growl from behind her. Her gun was in one of his hands and a large kitchen knife was in the other.

She spun round to face him where he stood by the doorway, angry blisters covering his face and neck. "You little bitch!" he spat at her, "When did you learn to get so tough?"

"As soon as I knew I'd had enough of you beating the shit out me, and the moment you hurt my son!" she growled angrily, thinking back to the time Cal had first hurt Jace as a baby.

"Our son!"

"He's never been yours!" she snapped.

With an angry roar Cal ran at her at full speed. Lara could only try to dive over the bed, but she screamed in pain as Cal sank the blade of the knife into her leg.

**~0~0~**

Flack was getting so close to the apartment but he was sure the damn building was moving further and further away from where it should have been. He had gone through several red lights and broken several other roads laws, all while his heart battered hard against his chest. He simply didn't care about the law now. The only thing he cared about was getting to Lara in time to help her from whatever Cal had planned.

**~0~0~**

Lara swung her arm back again and knocked the gun out from Cal's hand with her elbow. She heard it slide across the wooden floor but she couldn't see where it had gone. Before she had chance to hit him again she felt him yank the knife from out of her leg and once more cried in pain as more blood seeped from the wound.

She yelped in pain againa moment later when she felt Cal grab her hair. She couldn't stop him from pulling her up off the bed and swinging her hard into the wall. She saw stars immediately,_ spinning stars. _Before she saw it she felt Cal's fist connect hard with her face, once, twice and with the third blow she crumpled to the floor with a mouthful of her own blood.

She tried to push herself up but Cal stood hard on her leg that was bleeding from him having stabbed it. She screamed in agony and tried to push his foot off but it was no use. Doing the only thing she could she head butted him hard in the crotch. It wasn't something she'd never imagined herself doing in her life but it worked and Cal fell back once more holding himself.

With much more difficulty Lara managed to get to her feet. She limped out of her bedroom and down the hallway and into the living room, with her hand over her wound as her blood seeped through her fingers. She had barely crossed the living room when she felt Cal shove her hard. She fell forwards into the couch and struggled against him as he flipped her onto her back, leaning her back over the back of the couch as he wrapped his hands around her neck.

He began squeezing tighter and tighter, so hard Lara was sure his grip alone would snap her neck. She tried to pull his hands from around her throat but it was no good as his grip was just too tight. She desperately needed to take in a deep breath, her vision was blurring and everything was starting to go black. She was just about to pass out when Cal was forced off of her.

Lara slumped to the floor holding her throat and taking in a much needed gulp of air that threatened to choke her. She turned to look and sighed with relief to see Cal was lying on the floor beneath Flack who was punching him hard in the face over and over.

Flack threw punch after punch, the hardest he had ever punched anyone or anything. He heard the crunch of cartilage as Cal's nose broke and began oozing blood. He was so fixed on causing Cal as much pain as he could that he didn't see him raise his own fist. He just felt it connect with the side of his face.

A sharp pain shot right through his head and Cal used the moment's distraction to push Flack off him. Flack quickly tried to get up but Cal threw himself down on top of him and punched him square in the face. Flack tried to get up but he just couldn't with Cal's weight on top of him. Cal threw another punch and Flack found himself in a daze. His head felt like it was spinning, spinning too much for him to get up when Cal got up, but only so he could grab hold of a heavy glass vase full of small glass marbles.

He walked over to Flack and held the vase up over his head, ready to throw it down on Flack. A loud gunshot suddenly rang out and a bullet slammed into Cal's shoulder, the vase fell from his arms and smashed to pieces on the floor by his feet.

He yelled in pain and glared at Lara who was holding her gun, having picked it up off her bedroom floor. As Cal stormed toward her she pulled the trigger over and over and over, emptying all the bullets into Cal's body.

Both Flack and Lara could only watch as Cal slumped backwards into the wall. He slowly slid down it, leaving a bloody trail behind him. His eyes never left Lara's until he hit the floor, dead.

Lara released a breath that she hadn't realised she had actually been holding since the first time Cal had hit her, the first time she had feared for her life. Flack pushed himself to his feet and used the back of his hand to wipe away the blood from his bust lip.

He walked over to Lara and had to carefully peel her hand away from her hand. "Baby, give me the gun." he whispered to her.

Lara allowed him to take it, but never took her eyes of Cal, she was sure he was going to pop up from the floor and come after her again. However, the moment she felt Flack wrap his arms around her she felt safe again. She wrapped her arms around him and held him back, with her head buried against his chest she cried with relief. Finally it was _all_ over and she knew that she would lead a happy, safe life from now on with Flack and Jace.

_Finally she wouldn't be scared anymore, and she'd never have to run and hide again._

**TBC**

**Again, I'd like to say a huge thanks to every one of you who has read and reviewed. Please leave one last review and let me know what you thought of it, (Another apology for it taking so long to update.)**


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